Oh, man is opposed to fair play
He wants it all and he wants it his way
Bob Dylan
Do you remember that kid in the playground? You know, the one who had to be the winner every time no matter what. This is the kid who cheated at tag, who pushed the other kids off the monkey bars, who boasted — in the absence of all evidence — about zipping down the sliding board faster than anyone … ever. This is the kid who altered the rules and lied constantly for nothing more than bragging rights. Perhaps you lost a race or two to the nearest tree with this kid when you didn’t even know you were racing. You know the kid. Maybe you were that kid. Maybe I was that kid. Someone was.
This kid was the zero-sum kid. I hope the kid grew into a different attitude as an adult, but I wonder. There sure seem to be a lot of adherents to the zero-sum philosophy out there.
The zero-sum game is the belief that there are only complete winners and complete losers and that any win you have must result in a commensurate loss to me. In team sports, putting your personal triumphs over your team’s or teammates’ wins smacks of a poor attitude, and zero-sum players, no matter how talented, tend to drift from team to team. The euphemism is that they are no good in the locker room. In reality, they are just self-centered assholes.
The zero-sum approach represents a fundamental inability to process the world as it is. In an earlier essay entitled “Politics at Work” I addressed the difference between the politics of possibility and the politics of personal destruction, with the latter often being the result of a zero-sum outlook.
Zero-sum assumes that the resources of the universe are finite. While this may be true in a material sense — matter and energy cannot be created although with a modicum of cooperation there is plenty for all — it is not true in a psychic or metaphysical sense. Your good luck will rarely come at the expense of mine unless we are in direct competition. If you have a good day, that fact is unlikely to cause me to have a commensurately bad day unless I want it to.
Of course, you and I both have dealt with people who think like that, who seethe because someone else had some success. You know. That kid. That coworker. That frenemy.
Many zero-sum persons affect a rugged individualism, purporting to have achieved everything all on their own. In their minds, successes are exclusively their own doing while their evident failures are always someone else’s fault or are somehow not as evident as they evidently are. A zero-sum individual is a menace. In the worse cases they can be personally destructive and are not to be tolerated. Zero-sum creeps pretend they are perpetual winners, but they are actually losers, mere zero-sum zeros.
Worse still is the dysfunctional dystopia fostered by the zero-sum organizational culture. If you have toiled in such an environment, you know exactly what I mean, assuming the zero-sum world is not your element. In these organizations, jerks, cheats, and egomaniacs are rewarded while those with integrity are oppressed. Bosses blame others for their mistakes, claim credit for others’ successes, and take everything personally. These places tend to hemorrhage people, which makes sense since everyone in a zero-sum world is disposable and replaceable.
If you work in a zero-sum culture and are not yourself a zero-sum zero, you do not have too many good options. The best choice is to get out. The likelihood that you will be crushed by the culture or even accede to the culture is exceedingly high.
If you have any decency, such an environment is a torment, and there are few effective strategies for coping. Ignoring the zero-sum zeros just gives them license while challenging them just spurs them on. Zero-sum zeros, like extreme narcissists, are impervious to most criticism since they simply go ahead and change the rules and the measures to suit their interests. Scolding them is useless. Their gauge of success is always whatever makes them look the most successful at the moment, so your criticism will be meaningless. The more you yell and scream, the more they smirk and laugh at you. Their stance is both ingenious and pathetic. The zero-sum zero is generally also an accomplished bully.
If you are in such a situation — surrounded by zero-sum zeros — it is imperative that you not get caught up in their mindset. If you try to compete with them, you can never win. You will be playing their favorite game with their favorite rules, so it will tend toward their favorite outcome. Again, you are more likely to become like them than to change them. Worse still, if your boss is a zero-sum zero and you don’t care to join the dark side, you can either hide or leave.
Of course, if you are the boss and are dealing with zero-sum nonsense in your organization, you have all the power to end it. So end it. What are you waiting for? People are suffering. Productivity is strangled. Your organization is suffocating.
The zero-sum game is the enemy of teamwork, collaboration, and collective creativity. Like most any effort and like every stopped clock, it can have its moments of efficacy, but in the grand scheme it is always a loser. The zero-sum game is predicated upon a denial of the reality of our social nature and the power of cooperative effort. Whatever its occasional triumphs, the zero-sum attitude fosters a series of missed opportunities and trails misery in its wake. The zero-sum game is a fool’s game.
Do you have to deal with zero-sum zeros and other bullies in your work? Do you work in a zero-sum environment? How can you cope? Do you lead one? How can you end it?
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In a Zero-Sum World, Everyone’s a Loser