Winners and Losers

“Once I passed the tricky sections, I think I let off the gas pedal a little bit. I just didn’t continue with that aggression all the way to the finish,” the two-time World Cup overall champion said. “That’s where I lost the race. I wasn’t pushing myself as hard as I could have,” she explained, “I just got content and that’s why I’m not on the top step today.”

– Lindsey Vonn
American Alpine Skier
(1984 – )

All right, so she took bronze. But the quote makes our point. We think the principle here extends beyond alpine skiing – to communication, management; even life itself.

Winning demands that you get noticed. Winners Stand Up, and Stand Out.

Getting noticed demands a risk…moving out of the envelope into “No Man’s Land.” Winners make themselves and us (their audience) nervous. We’re not sure where it’s going. We’re not sure it’ll be OK. There might be a wipeout. But we’re pulling for the insouciant risk taker in the spotlight. We can’t take our eyes off these people. They dominate our attention. They connect with our emotions and they tantalize our imagination. And once they own the stage, they demand our full attention and commitment – to take some risks ourselves. That’s why their presentations matter!

Growth happens at the edge, not the center. It’s dangerous out there, but potentially rewarding. The edge is a “live or die” place – not a suicide place. If our most powerful communicators lost consistently, there would be a stampede back to the envelope! But our most powerful communicators, managers and leaders are skilled at taking “A Calculated Risk.” Doing something new. Different. Unusual. But not in a foolhardy way. Pointless Risks are foolhardy. Calculated Risks define the style of winners.

Losers do none of these. No risks. No sudden moves. No untoward eye contact with a decision maker. No raising or lowering of the voice or the frame. Stay seated with eyes downcast and voice lowered! These are the rules of The Loser. Such rules (and standard corporate customs) lay the solid ground upon which the winners stake their claim to creativity.

Winners stand. They move the chair. They change the room arrangement. They ask for questions and handle them brilliantly with warmth and humor. They make genuine individual contact and respond in a human and self-deprecating way. They ask us to listen, think, comment and commit. They take us out of the envelope – into the light.

Losers establish the norm and the envelope. Winners push it.

Be a winner. Here’s how:

1. Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse. Now do it again. Nothing a winner does is left to chance.
2. Recognize that your clothing is a performance costume.
   Dress accordingly.
3. The room is a stage…dress it as well.
4. Know what the audience expects. Then cater to and bend (but not break) their expectations.
5. If necessary, foreshadow your intentions by asking the audience’s forbearance and patience with your “experiment.”
6. If you are saying “Hey, this is acting!” what makes you think
   it’s not?

 Now get back on the gas!

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