Winning Is Enough

“Winning is not enough. All others must lose.” -Larry Ellison

Larry Ellison is one of the ten richest men in the world which on its surface may not register so here’s a fun fact about Larry:

He actually owns one of the Hawaiian islands. Yes, the US state Hawaii, he owns 98% of the island Lanai.

Larry is widely known throughout Silicon Valley as one of the fiercest competitors in the tech space. In some ways it’s a shame we didn’t have social media earlier because Larry Ellison is a character and the lore around him is legendary. 

The triumphs and grandeur surrounding Ellison can prop up quotes like today’s as intoxicating, yet harmful advice. Due to Larry’s vast wealth and leverage, he is forced, in some sense, to play Zero-sum games. A Zero-sum game is a math term that describes two competing parties where one side’s advantage directly, and perfectly disadvantages the other. In layman’s terms, if you eat that slice of pie it means I don’t get to have that slice of pie.

When Larry takes a bite of something, it’s hard for his competitors to not go a bit hungrier. Simultaneously we all look to someone like Larry as an exemplar of business and strategy and hear him say things like today’s quote and think “yeah I need to be a killer like Larry”. On this misguided thinking you start seeing coworkers as competitors. Your cousin is succeeding in their law career and that makes you mad because you’re not doing as well in your marketing role. You start seeing the world as a smaller and smaller pie and everyone’s success is to your detriment.

It’s nonsense. Unless your neighbor owns South Dakota and you own the Arctic Sea, your successes do not set each other back. The only real competition is yourself. It’s you vs your own indecision, complacency, and discipline. Focusing on your peers is a distraction.

Winning is enough.