WHAT IS SUCCESS?
There are two basic meanings of success:
1. You-Lose, and
2. I-Win.
You-Lose is the kind of success a boxer enjoys in a World Champion title fight. For him to win the title – be Champion of the World – and collect the purse he has to see that the other fighter fails to win. This kind of situation is called, by games theorists, a ‘zero sum’ game and is where success for one player means failure for the other (although in boxing, these days, the loser’s purse of $10 million is hard to think of as failure).
A zero sum game is so named because when the total gains of the participants are added up, and the total losses are subtracted, they will sum to zero.
Backgammon is also a zero sum game as are Olympic team sports and professional sporting competitions like cricket, football, basketball and baseball.
I-Win is more like what happens in life itself. At home (whether in a relationship between lovers or families), or at school, or at work, I can be successful by playing I-Win without anyone having to lose or fail.
– I-Win can happen without my mate having to fail.
– I-Win can happen without my customer having to lose.
– I-Win can happen without my neighbour having to suffer.
DFQ #04:
What is a zero sum game?
What was the most recent zero sum game in which you were a player?: