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Playing by the Wrong Rules, Playing the Wrong Game
Bob Ryan, About Purpose, Inc. ©2006
“The rules are different in our business. You can’t make it unless you play the game.”
“You have to know how to stretch a few limits if you’re going to survive in this industry.”
Sometimes said with a little wink, sometimes with a sad shake of the head, these kinds of comments underscore what I see as a basic flaw in a business owner’s thinking. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t start my own business so I could work for someone else. And don’t kid yourself; if you run your business along the edge of legality, morality or ethics, then you are working someone else’s agenda. “They” make the rules. “They” set the standards. All you’re doing is buying yourself permission to paddle in someone else’s big pond – while trying not to make ripples!
Oh, I know the realities of business. There are those who undercut, set lower standards, create chokeholds that have to be “greased” and hold power and influence over the heads of anyone they can. The very real threat is, “Play by our rules or lose.” But it is still your choice to surrender to that kind of extortion, or to play a different game with different rules.
At the time of this writing, the little country of Norway is second in the number of medals won in the Turin Winter Olympic Games. A story came out a couple days ago about a Canadian skier in a x-country relay who broke her pole. Norway’s coach stepped forward and handed her a new one, even though it increased the competition in the race. The coach’s comment: “We are a country which believes in fair play. I like to be somebody of fair sportsmanship.” In the midst of an Olympics rife with allegations of steroid use, Norway decided to play a different game, with different rules.
How many of us have longed for just one politician who would run a truly clean race? How many of us move mountains trying to find a service company we can truly trust to be honest? How many of us sincerely dread the phrase, “Everybody else is doing it?”
How about you? Are you playing by the wrong rules? Then I submit you are playing the wrong game. Have the fortitude to step out of line and redefine the marketplace. Create a new value promise in your industry. Take back your own self-respect and realize your goal of working for yourself, not “them.”