We live in such a time of instant gratification that, if Aesop were to tell his Tortoise and the Hare fable today, the rabbit would win and within five minutes would tweet a picture of himself holding the trophy with the hashtag #rabbitwinsagain. This self-aggrandizement is deluding millions of people, including executives in the building supply and construction industry, who already suffer from over-inflated egos, perpetuated by the fact that they build stuff.
Success and doing your best doesn’t mean winning at all costs. The best business advice I know of comes from the Bible: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” I’m no Bible-thumper, but I have little doubt that there are a lot of executives walking this earth who have no soul because their strategies are short-term, self-gratifying, and focused only on the immediate win. There will always be another battle to win, but what about the war?
The quickest way to tell if an executive is a battle fighter or a war fighter is to look at the executive’s job tenure. An executive who has worked for more than one or two companies within the last six years can probably charge a hill to win the battle of an immediate problem, but doesn’t realize he or she is surrounded and outflanked by a superior opponent who is making three moves beyond the mundane. If you work for an executive who overblows the common, ordinary problems to embellish his or her problem-solving skills, hold tight—that executive will soon be gone.
Executives who fight battles instead of wars lead from the front during victories and the back during defeat. When the organization is successful, they make sure their pictures and names are on the top line and, above all else, take all the credit. When misfortune happens, mistakes are made, and failures occur (as it does with everyone), they are the quickest to point out the people who supposedly failed them. Had these former employees only listened, this would have never happened, the exec claims. Does that sound familiar?
Okay, I am now going to pull out the old-school card; curse me if you want. There are also those newly indoctrinated, MBA-trained, snot-nosed kids who only know how to make money with a hatchet, have a hedge-fund mentality, and who couldn’t grow a lemonade business in the center of hell. The great business people in this country understand that you can’t cut your way to a successful business; it takes hard work, innovation and investment–it’s a war. Here is the dirty secret about those hatchet executives: It takes more guts to grow a business profitably long-term than to wield the axe for quick profits. Many of those young executives don’t even realize they are in a war.
If you’ve got a good job, making a good living with an opportunity to grow, then how much you make is not important. That will take care of itself. That is the mindset of an executive who understands success is winning the war. If your main focus is always about squeezing more coins into your purse every year, then you will eventually flame out and lose the war. Money doesn’t guarantee happiness, and changing jobs every few years is a miserable life because you never experience the real joy of building a great team. (And by the way, wars are won with great teams!)
We all face daily battles, and no one wants to lose, but obsessing to win each battle will take your eyes off what’s happening in the real war. Great executives lead from the front and take credit from the back; they give credit to the team. If you want to win the war, then grudges, pettiness, and self-accolades can’t be in your DNA.
The next big economic downturn will quickly separate those who have prepared for battle and those who prepared to win the war. Which are you?
