Being a good loser
Recent events in corporate India have brought back to the spotlight, the various challenges of winning and the unsurmountable pressure of staying at the top. The point that has got lost in the discussions is that inculcating a spirit and mindset of ‘being a good loser’ is more important than trying to win at all costs.
Two recent events have showcased how trying to win at all costs is in contrast with the spirit being a good loser. On the one hand, V G Siddhartha succumbed to the pressure of winning. On the other, the founders of Mindtree, a company that the coffee king had nurtured, decided to leave all their lives’ hard work and demonstrate the spirit of being good losers. Walking away into one’s (forced) sunset whilst upholding one’s principles and honesty is a better way than trying to win either under pressure or by hook or crook. In the long run, being a good loser is a nobler option than getting entangled in the mad race of winning.
“Train yourself to let go of the things you fear to lose.”
‘Being a good loser’ was the topic for the morning assembly speech, in my teenage daughter’s school. During one of our typical, animated weekend discussions, my daughter asked me, “Baba, how about being a good loser than trying to win at all costs?” She then went on to mention the points that were discussed by her schoolmate during the assembly. I could not agree more. Although these are simple life lessons that are taught to school children, as adults, we often forget them in the hurly-burly of our daily lives!
Today, corporate India is strewn with corpses, literally. Many corporates have gone bust and promoters have been left facing downhill events. The tragic suicide of one of India’s pioneering entrepreneurs, Siddhartha, has gleamed the spotlight on how difficult it is to stay afloat in tough times. Indeed, if we were to observe from close quarters, accidents do happen in the race to win.
In today’s trying times, business leaders should focus on ‘playing the game’ in the most spirited manner. Playing a fair game should be more important than ‘winning’, and it is a lesson that India Inc. needs to imbibe quickly.
Nobody disputes the glory and admiration a winner receives. However, when it becomes the sole focus without the backing of proper methods, it can cost any corporate or professional dearly, in the long run. So, is being a good loser a good alternative for business leaders rather trying to win at all costs? Instead of over-glorifying winners and understating losers, can’t we imbibe a culture of fair play and give everything our best shot?
Mindtree founders showed the entire world how to be good losers. After building one of the finest IT firms of global scale, they lost the battle due to shareholding technicalities in a hostile M&A. The rules of company law triumphed over magnanimous corporate conscience and benign gesture. However, other than putting up a defense in the most spirited and transparent manner, the founding team didn’t do anything that could be put under scrutiny. And in this loss, the founder gentlemen followed the same principles with which they had built this fantastic enterprise — being grounded and humble enough to walk away from their most prized (and value-creating) possession with dignity and grace.
We all know about instances of promoters using wrongful acts to stay in the game and delaying tactics to ward off even genuine M&As. In the case of Mindtree, the promoters — other than appealing to the industry and playing by the rule book — did nothing else. They built a company with gold standards of corporate governance and ethics. They lived by it even when they lost Mindtree — leaving the dreams of their lifetime (fully) unrealized!
In contrast, Siddhartha did otherwise. Reports suggest that with all good intentions, his debt pile ultimately burdened him to take the tragic decision. Siddhartha was doing everything to pay back debt. In his last statement, he poignantly mentions — ‘my intention was not to cheat or mislead anybody’; however, his moves took him into further debt. Maybe a simple way of deleveraging would have been to give up some of his businesses and real estate to repay the debt (now it is reported that one of his real estate ventures has got a buyer at a fancy price).
Additionally, with no boardroom and leadership guidance (unlike Mindtree), he became lonely in his quest to ‘win’. The real tragedy is that instead of losing the battle today to win tomorrow’s war, he decided to end his life. I am not sure who won in the end: Siddhartha, now smiling somewhere up in the stars? Or the people who led him to take this unfortunate decision? They will now live their lives with the burden of having recovered their money but lost an excellent entrepreneur.
It is tragic fate that both Mindtree and Siddhartha faced similar situations. Both were on the verge of losing their business empires due to certain wrong decisions and tough business scenarios. While the former decided to be a good loser, the latter continued on the path to ‘win’. Looking back, maybe being good losers helped the Mindtree founders come out as winners in the larger race of life. And Siddhartha’s quest led to the loss of life.
Nobody disputes the glory and admiration a winner receives. However, instead of over-glorifying winners and understating losers, can’t we imbibe a culture of fair play and give everything our best shot?
In today’s trying times, business leaders should focus on ‘playing the game’ in the most spirited manner. Much like sport, every player and team should play to the best of their abilities within the strict rules of the game and with the principle ‘may the best team win’. Playing a fair game should be more important than ‘winning’, and it is a lesson that India Inc. needs to imbibe quickly.
When you give your best, and things still don’t work the way you wanted, it is important to accept it and be a ‘good loser’. Losing gives you a chance to get up the next morning and go back to fight the next battle in a better manner. Otherwise, as recent circumstances show, you may end up in jail, escape the country to live like a fugitive or end your life as an extreme measure.
So, don’t forget the simple life lessons learnt in school. Let us inculcate a culture that embraces losing as much as it celebrates winning, for it is perfectly acceptable to be a ‘good loser’ whenever difficult situations arise.
Signing off with two evergreen quotes from legendary filmmaker and entrepreneur George Lucas which seem to be so relevant in the above cases. “It is okay to lose; just don’t lose the lesson.” and “Train yourself to let go of the things you fear to lose.”
