Play to Win or Play to Participate

Do you play to win or do you play to participate?

The answer to this question allows you to determine whether you are a "winner” or a “performer”. When I was a kid, my father used to tell me that "life is like a performance, and what determines you is your excellence in how you play".

Thus, in order to be successful in business and life, you got to be a "go-getter" and a little ruthless. Nevertheless, in whatever I was doing, I strived be find a common ground. I often felt anchor in my chest when I saw someone loosing in one way or another.

In the world of entrepreneurship, however, often happens that someone has to be a nail or a hammer. In order to move industry forward and innovate, entrepreneurs have to muscle in in order for their companies to outgrow its competitors.

It is the desire to play in order to win, even if it is associated with risk, that underlies the willingness as well as fear to try yourself in starting something new and move in despite of facing uncertainty.