Similarly, we assign value to ideas, people, and concepts like process and winning. Our egos tend to cluster 'my way', the 'right way', and the 'best way' together. I prefer to search for a 'better' way.
Where does winning fall along the continuum of value?
When we develop a consistent process, a critical mass of committed, skilled people, and combine execution and intangibles like health and luck, we might get more than our share of success.
Pasteur expressed it thusly, "chance favors the prepared mind."
Our society places a premium on winning. "To the victors go the spoils." To that extent, scandal has become 'routine'. Performance enhancing drugs, industrial espionage (e.g. ballpark cameras), Spygate, hacking scandals, withholding or misleading medical information, piped in crowd noise, recruiting with call girls, manipulated equipment, and other malfeasance abound. Ethics takes a back seat to winning. Some have even remarked, "if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying."
But cheating doesn't yield a sustained competitive edge. The "legacy programs" share common dimensions...great coaching, talent, and superior process. John Wooden left nothing to chance, writing Practical Modern Basketball. The St. Louis Cardinals have "The Cardinal Way", an instruction manual shared with every player in the organization. Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide has "The Process." Anson Dorrance of UNC's women's soccer preaches the "competitive cauldron". Cal Rugby's Jack Clark designs a "performance culture." Bill Walsh immersed the 49ers in "Standards of Performance." Consistent achievement follows designed excellence.
Winning is ephemeral. Dorrance uses the rose to symbolize winning. Its beauty fades as does the emotion associated with championships.
Some organizations have the ultimate winning culture. At BUD/S training, the Navy SEALs reward winning along the training arc. "It pays to be a winner." Winning is synonymous with completing missions and often survival.
The desire to win distorts behavior. At a recent coaching clinic, officials discussed having coaches ejected from basketball games...of fourth graders. That is wrong on so many levels from instructors of the game.
I view winning as a byproduct of good process, the synergy between decision-making and execution. If our team makes good choices and executes well, that's a quality performance that may not always yield winning results...depending on the opponent's play.
Behaviorally, I want our team to stay humble in victory and gracious in defeat. Winning doesn't authorize boorishness and being a competitor doesn't obviate sportsmanship.
Barry Sanders celebrated scoring by returning the ball to officials. "Act like you've been there before."
I like Brett Ledbetter's characterization of winning substrates from his book, "What Drives Winning."
Play to win. But character, not winning, defines you.