I t’s nice to win. The recognition, adulation, and sense of accomplishment can be almost intoxicating. This feeling can cause us to place a huge emphasis on achieving victory for ourselves in order to keep these good feelings coming.
Sometimes, however, it’s even better to enjoy the victories of others, especially those we care about. Most everyone knows the joy of watching children who are important to us win in sports, a spelling bee, a music competition, or even a silly game at a county or state fair. And we are often ready to sacrifice our own benefit to help kids in situations like this to win. Certainly most parents know this feeling—we want our kids to be winners. That desire is most often for their benefit and happiness rather than just our own ego satisfaction.
Similarly, when we choose to mentor someone who is less experienced in an area where we possess expertise, we want them to win. We sincerely hope that they will grow in their work and career and ultimately experience significant success. The same goes for valued friends, colleagues, and teammates.
It can be very satisfying to help someone else win at work and in life, even when it means we have less time and effort to attend to our own immediate success. Perhaps the real winners in life are persons who have not only succeeded in their own efforts but were able to look beyond themselves and help others win as well.
Consider the case of Steve Jobs and Apple Computer. Known to be a hard-driving, avid competitor, Jobs returned to the helm of Apple in 1997, after more than 10 years away. In business, one way executives keep score to measure their level of victory is through their salary level and amount of accumulated wealth. But Jobs refused any pay or stock.
Instead he received a token $1 salary. In an interview Jobs explained, “I didn’t return to Apple to make a fortune . . . . I just wanted to see if we could work together to turn this thing around when the company was literally on the verge of bankruptcy. The decision to go without pay has served me well.”
Eventually, Apple did turn around and Jobs benefited substantially in a financial way. This result demonstrates an interesting feature about life and a common theme I have heard many motivational speakers and writers echo over the years—if we help others get what they want, we usually get much of value ourselves.
Upon his return to Apple, Jobs seemed to focus much more on helping the company and its employees succeed and apparently was less concerned about his own victory on the executive wealth playing field. And helping others win, initially at his own expense, helped him to be a significant long-term winner at Apple, both financially and as a person.
An irony: by focusing on helping others get what they want, and not on our own personal gain, we stand to gain a great deal.
Good Morning �
Have an amazing week...�
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