The Pie is not Bigger

One of the major themes when I was in business school was to “grow the pie” and while I wrote it down and used the concept to pass exams and such, I never could embrace the concept. To me, it seemed wishful, like the “law of attraction.” For a more scholarly approach to the rebuttal of the concept of growing the pie – go here – all 38 pages. For me it’s up there with “a rising tide lifts all boats.” *** a lot of fine print needed ***

Today I found this in my inbox –

Many folks will tell you that the world is not a zero sum game, with one person not having to lose at the expense of another winning. This is simply not true, as in most startups there is a very limited number of seats and they go to the people who work the hardest and who have the most skill.

In your career you will find that life is a zero sum game: the winners get the prime positions and the person who comes in second place for that position is the first loser — not the second winner.

I am glad someone has the guts to say this out loud, and distribute widely.

(twitter feed for this truism)

I don’t know much about Jason Calacanis (although he does have the 00001 Model S Tesla – which is very cool), but I  subscribed to his Launch Ticker feed. And occasionally he sends out something he deems important. This blurb was part of 8 things for “folks starting their careers.”

Many priceless bits. For example:

6/NEVER GET INVOLVED IN POLITICS & NEVER BE NEGATIVE.

The people who are killed, the deer, tend to huddle around the kitchen or go on cigarette breaks and bitch and complain about everyone and everything at the company. The tigers are too busy killing it to be bothered with such things.

If you see people crying and pouting walk away. Go back to work. Here’s the language:

Deer: “Bitch bitch, moan moan, blame blame, cry cry.”

Tiger: “Hmmm…that’s an interesting take on things. I gotta get shit done, good luck with that.”

Let me sum up. Be a tiger.