Corporate Reflections: "You Don't Win Silver, You Lose Gold"
As Tokyo Olympics 2020 drew to a close last week, I caught up on quite a few stories about ‘silver-medal’ winning athletes being discontent with their silver efforts, rueing the fact that they probably missed the gold by a whisker. That they were second-best (!) in the world – against the world’s best – seemed meaningless somehow. I couldn’t help thinking then that this feeling can’t have parallels in the corporate world. With tens (sometimes hundreds) of organizations competing in the same line of business for tens of years, there’s (hopefully) a fair amount of satisfaction even among the silver medal winners… Or, at least there should be. Looking with a Corporate lens, Outside In reflects the AGAINST and FOR arguments on the maxim “You Don’t Win Silver, You Lose Gold”… Let’s go!
Background – The Nike Campaign
The maxim “You Don’t Win Silver, You Lose Gold” came into prominence courtesy Nike’s Marketing Campaign right before the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. It had posted (then) controversial billboards across Atlanta expressing the message that ran contrary to the ideals of Olympics
Let’s see the impact it had on Townsend Saunders, an American Olympian in 1996 –
By the time Saunders left for Atlanta, he'd bested 65 wrestlers in his weight class by winning the national tournament. Then he defeated the winner of the Olympic trials, a man who beat 15 other wrestlers before facing Saunders. To win gold, Saunders would have to defeat Russian wrestler Vadim Bogiyev, who was fresh off a World Championship – which he missed by a point. When Townsend Saunders (silver medalist in men’s freestyle wrestling) had read it, moments after walking out of an arena wearing a silver medal, those words stung. “It’s not terrible for everyone else to read; it’s just terrible for all the silver medalists,” he recollected 16 years later. “It was all I could think about — if I had just done this, just done that, tried a little bit harder here, or done this. You wish it were a dream that you could go back. But you have to live in reality”
Anecdotes from Other Unhappy Silver Medalists
"I am happy but not satisfied. Not at all. There is a lot of sadness about missing out on the gold medal". What’s the point of this? I had come here with only one target, a gold medal. This (silver medal) is okay, but it’s not gold – Ravi Dahiya, only the second Indian wrestler to win a silver medal ever
You don't win silver, you lose gold. I'm very disappointed — I feel like a failure," – British boxer Ben Whittaker
China's mixed doubles table tennis team made a tearful apology at the Tokyo Olympics last week - for winning a silver medal. "I feel like I've failed the team... I'm sorry everyone," Liu Shiwen said, bowing in apology, tears welling in her eyes. Her partner, Xu Xin, added: "The whole country was looking forward to this final. I think the entire Chinese team cannot accept this result
During a newspaper interview he gave almost 70 years after he clinched a silver medal at the Stockholm Olympics of 1912, mid-distance American runner Abel Kiviat described the race as a “nightmare”. His silver medal had come after a photo-finish — a first in Olympic history — in which he had just got past fellow American Norman Taber in the 1500m race. That race was the biggest disappointment of my life. I never saw Jackson,” he said while referring to Great Britain’s Arnold Jackson who had secured by the slimmest margin of 0.1 seconds. “I wake up sometimes and say, ‘What the heck happened to me?”
Media Glare – Silver Medal as a Curse
Times of India Article:
A TOI article from 2012 encapsulates this poignant feeling adequately: The Olympic gold medal is a fulfillment. The bronze at least secures your place among the medalists and all-time greats of the country. Heartbreaking fourth-place finishes can act as moral wins for medal-starved countries. Even participating for its own sake gives pure joy for someone from a disadvantaged land. But the silver medal is a curse. It comes after dreaded defeat, reminds you that you are not up there. Very few can wipe out the silver with a gold in the next Olympics. If you are really ambitious, you just weep with the silver. It’s clearly the ‘most unwanted’ medal
Jerry Seinfeld Quote:
Jerry Seinfeld put it, "you win the bronze - you think, 'Well, at least I got something.' But when you win that silver it’s like, 'Congratulations, you almost won. Of all the losers you came in first of that group. You're the number one loser. No one lost ahead of you!'"
Olympics Research Insights
A 1995 research paper published by psychologists Victoria Medvec, Thomas Gilovich (both from Cornell), and Scott F Madey (University of Toledo) had an answer to why silver medallists may be feeling the way they are. They studied this phenomenon to conclude that on a happiness scale, silver medalists fair poorly owing to the human tendency to indulge in ‘counterfactual thinking’ — the propensity to think of alternative circumstances to real-life events, especially those with far-ranging consequences
The study, “When Less Is More: Counterfactual Thinking and Satisfaction Among Olympic Medallists”, deduced that bronze medallists score much better on the happiness scale when compared to silver medallists who had outperformed them in the game
Explaining the findings, the researchers wrote, “To the silver medalist, the most vivid counterfactual thoughts are often focused on nearly winning the gold. Second place is only one step away from the cherished gold medal and all of its attendant social and financial rewards. Thus, whatever joy the silver medalist may feel is often tempered by tortuous thoughts of what might have been had she only lengthened her stride, adjusted her breathing, pointed her toes, and so on. For the bronze medalist, in contrast, the most compelling counterfactual alternative is often coming in fourth place and being in the showers instead of on the medal stand.”
According to another research by Andrea Luangrath, a University of Iowa assistant marketing professor and her colleagues — Bill Hedgcock of the University of Minnesota and a former Iowa undergraduate student Raelyn Webster there is a second theory as well: Silver medalists likely go into a competition expecting they'll perform better than they do. "So when they fall short of those predictions, it can affect their happiness post-competition”
In the context of this mindset insights of silver medalists, who came up 2nd best in the world, let’s explore how the silver medal winners – 2nd placed corporates – in their line of business view (or should view) their place under the sun…
Corporate Reflections AGAINST the Maxim
American Olympic Swimmer Amy White had a suggestion for other silver medalists put off by the Nike campaign of 1996: Just boo it. She had said then "I am insulted every time I see it. They are slapping every athlete and every country that doesn't win gold in the face. That's not the spirit of the Olympics. White said her 1984 silver medal in the 200-meter backstroke was the accomplishment of her life. She finished less than a second behind Yolanda de Rover of the Netherlands
Corporates will take heart from this sentiment. Even if they are 2nd placed in the market, they are doing a service to their country (and to the world) and are accomplishing an achievement of their lives
Debate 1: You Don’t Win Silver, You Lose Gold
Corporates Reflect: Even Silver Wins Big in the Business World
Let’s look at the roster of some silver winners in the business world today, globally as well as in India:
Global FMCG: J&J, with 90 brands and $82 Billion Revenue (Nestle is Number 1 at $90 Billion)
US Retail: Amazon (yes, Walmart is still nearly 1.5 times the size of Amazon)
Global QSR: McDonald’s (surprise surprise…Subway has bigger footprint than McDonald’s)
India Banking: HDFC Bank (Largest Private Indian Bank is still probably only half the size of SBI)
India Automobiles (PV): Hyundai (with a princely 15.85% market share in July 2021)
Global Logistics: DHL/Fedex (they keep swapping places, while UPS stays steady at 1)
Global Airports: Tokyo (Willing to bet Changi will never move from its Number 1 position)
And so on. I hope you get the idea. In the business world, even the silver medal winners (2nd number players) have done fabulously themselves
Debate 2: (Gold and) Bronze Winners are happier than Silver Winners
Corporates Reflect: Not So in the Corporate World
Let’s look at some of the Bronze Winners (Number 3 Players) in Indian and Global Corporate circles:
India Telecom: Vodafone-Idea (enough said about their woes already, just read the newspapers)
India Automobiles (PV): Tata Motors (check the nerve-wrecking fall-rise-fall-rise ride of their market share in last 10 years)
Global Laptops: Dell (check the pressure from higher as well as lower placed competitors)
Global Airlines: Lufthansa (and I am referring to their troubles by end-2019; things have probably gotten worse for them post-pandemic). You can read more here at: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/lufthansa-strike-protest-flights-cancelled-6109185/
Debate 3: Play to Participate
Corporates Reflect: You can’t play to Participate
The Olympic spirit is about Participation. It doesn’t matter whether you win or lose, but participating is very important. Why is participation considered to be so prestigious? It is because of the extremely tough process to just get in. Some 1900 athletes from more than 190 countries will have competed at the Tokyo Olympic Games. There’s actually a Road to Tokyo Tool – which illustrates how athletes could participate/qualify for “Athletic Events”: https://www.worldathletics.org/stats-zone/road-to/7132391. Imagine having a similar rigorous process for all Olympic Sports. This is why, if you just make the cut, it is a big deal indeed!
However in the business world, there are approximately 41000 listed companies in the world with a combined market value of more than USD 80 trillion. This is equivalent to the global GDP. So, as you can gauge the sheer number of corporates are humongous with (relatively) low barriers for entry. So, participating is not really considered prestigious. But staying in business for a long time is what will elicit kudos in this day and age
According to McKinsey, the average life of companies today is around 18 years only. The average lifetime of companies is shrinking. If you were listed in the S&P 500 in 1935, the life span of a company was 90 years. Today, it is 18 years. Every two weeks a company is going off that system. Stating that we live in some of the most interesting times in a 500 year timeframe, companies now need strategic and operational changes that to operate in these times.To win in such volatile business environment, companies have to focus on the trends, reallocate resources to the tune of 10-15% every year and undertake dramatics reductions in cost every year
So, the play for Corporates really is more like the Hunger Games movie plot: They have to forcibly play a series of games (representing their district/organization/stakeholders), with other competitors, until there is only one survivor – hoping that the odds always in their favor
While we have reflected the AGAINST argument to a fair degree, let’s even acknowledge that there may be some merit in pursuing this Mentality even…
Merits FOR the “You Don’t Win Silver, You Lose Gold” Mentality
According to an Inc42 article on digital monopolies, the way we think about businesses and the economy is outdated and marred by contradiction
As an entrepreneur, everyone wants to own a monopoly. Meanwhile, investors clamor to gain entry into fundraising rounds where tech startups that are on the way to monopoly status. Yet ask a business owner if they want to be labeled a monopoly, and the answer is almost always no. Every business wants to be a monopoly, but no business wants to be called one. That's because monopolies are considered bad. Yet modern monopolies don't work the same way as their industrial-era forebearers
Today's modern monopolies are platform businesses – and they don't own their supply chains. Instead, these businesses create economic and social value by building and managing massive networks of users. Rather than directly producing or selling their own goods or services, these companies simply connect people. Examples of platform businesses include Facebook, Google, Apple, Alibaba, Uber, and even Snapchat. Driven by network effects, these businesses are capable of growing far beyond the limits of traditional, asset-based businesses. That's why platform businesses are rapidly taking over existing industries and creating entirely new ones. Platform businesses grow not by acquiring more factories but by connecting more and more users within their networks
Platforms become dominant not because of what they own but rather because of the value they create by connecting their users. They don't own the means of production, as industrial monopolies did. Instead, they own the means of connection. Today's platforms are competitive in a way older monopolies were not. As a result, modern monopolies can rise and fall from the iron throne much faster than the industrial monopolies of the 20th century. There's always a new competitor ready to cross the sea and steal your users
As billionaire investor and Paypal founder Peter Thiel says, his number one piece of advice to entrepreneurs is: if you're building a company, build a monopoly
In context of these insights on emerging digital monopolies, maybe Corporate will agree with the above maxim. You have to live in reality (to contextualize Townsend Saunder’s truism). Because the reality is even starker – There is no Silver, There is no 2nd place!
In Conclusion
The aforementioned TOI article summed it up nicely: Silver burns the medalists from inside but it relays the flame of optimism to their successors. New heart, new soul, new brain and a new body then attempt to take the competitor to nirvana: Citius, altius, fortius!
For Corporates, this outlook has meant a regular induction of new management teams and fresh blood across roles in an ‘old’ organization – which in some way is symbolic of passing the ‘Olympic’ flame from the old guard to the new. Thereby, in the corporate world we have ‘new-gold-aspiring’ fresh talent pools which refresh and rejuvenate enduring ‘silver-winning’ Corporates – which isn’t really a sad thing…
References and Sources
1) Nike Billboard: http://marktruelson.com/your-message-is-the-core-storydriver/
2) Nike – Townsend Saunders Story: https://www.deseret.com/2012/7/22/20425340/ariz-olympian-recalls-winning-silver-not-gold
3) Ravi Dahiya Not Satisfied with Silver: https://www.indiatoday.in/sports/tokyo-olympics/story/tokyo-olympics-wrestler-ravi-dahiya-happy-but-not-satisfied-with-silver-medal-win-aiming-gold-in-2024-games
4) Ben Whittaker Failure with Silver: https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/olympic-boxer-regrets-putting-silver-200433305.html
5) Chinese TT Team Trolled by ‘Nationalists’: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-58024068
6) Abel Kiviat Story: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/why-a-bronze-medal-winner-often-looks-happier-than-a-silver-medallist-at-the-olympics-7442883/
7) TOI 2012 Article on Silver Medal Curse – Olympics: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/news/Silver-medal-is-a-curse-in-Olympic-Games/articleshow/15108340.cms
8) Jerry Seinfeld Quote: https://www.today.com/health/why-winning-silver-olympic-medal-can-feel-worse-getting-bronze-t226239
9) Amy White Article – Just Boo It: https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19960808&slug=2343216
10) LinkedIn Post by Ramesh Srinivasan: You Don’t Win Silver, You Lose Gold: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141203124043-52516142-you-don-t-win-silver-you-lose-gold/
11) Olympic Research Articles – Bronze Medal Winners are happier than Silver Medal Winners: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/why-a-bronze-medal-winner-often-looks-happier-than-a-silver-medallist-at-the-olympics-7442883/; https://www.npr.org/2021/07/29/1022537817/theres-a-psychology-lesson-behind-why-olympic-bronze-medalists-are-so-happy
12) Silver Winners in the Business World: Multiple Sources/Google Search
13) Listed Companies in the World: https://www.oecd.org/corporate/who-are-the-owners-of-the-worlds-listed-companies-and-why-should-we-care.htm
14) Average Life of Businesses: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/hr-leadership/lifespan-of-companies-shrinking-to-18-years-mckinseys-dominic-barton/articleshow/50775384.cms
15) Digital Monopolies: https://in.pinterest.com/pin/117304765278614065/; https://www.inc.com/alex-moazed/why-modern-monopolies-are-good.html