mdyetmetaphor.com

Michael's Metaphors of Life Journal

mdyetmetaphor.com header image 2

Don Cherry: “Everybody Hopes You Fail”

May 29th, 2011 by Michael Dyet

Hmmm, is the win-loss equation the basic currency of success in our high performance oriented society?

Today’s Toronto Star ran an article on hockey broadcasting legend Don “Grapes” Cherry. It is a revealing look into the life of this “shoot from the hip” personality who has become a household name here in Canada. But one quotation in particular resonated with me.

Television is a jungle,” says Cherry, now 77. “I thought hockey was a tough business. But this is a tough business. You know why. I’m going to say it for the first time. Everybody hopes you fail.”

I think that statement from ‘Grapes’ is more wide-reaching than he realizes. We have become a society where the measure of our worth is calculated by the margin by which we out-compete – or are out-competed by – the people in our sphere of influence.

It is certainly true in the business world. The primary goal of any for-profit company is to out-compete its’ competitors. Ultimate success is defined by putting your competitors out of business and grabbing their customers.

This survival-of-the-fittest mentality spills over to employees. Every sizable corporation in this day and age operates on the “lean and mean” principle – the most production possible from the least possible number of employees.

For the employee, this means that you are always just one downsizing away from being out of work. Holding onto your job often means out-competing or outmaneuvering others at your level – or just above you – on the corporate food chain.

In short, at some level everyone around you hopes that you fail so they will survive or move up a notch in the hierarchy. They feel bad about thinking that way – although there are some who revel in it – but survival dictates behaviour.

Most of us try not to let that mentality spill over into our private lives. But it is an insidious behaviour that silently drives us in ways we don’t notice. High performance becomes ingrained into our thinking.

I’ll admit that I find myself competing with an invisible man at times when I’m indulging in a passion that I pursue purely for personal enjoyment. I find it very difficult to turn off the win-lose mindset even where it very clearly doesn’t belong.

Those who know Don Cherry well say he is all about integrity and values and that he is trying to convince the world of the need for honour both on and off the ice. His on-air personality is not a persona. He is a this is me, take it or leave it type of guy.

Influential people can be metaphors. I believe that Don Cherry – rough around the edges though he may be – is a metaphor for honour. He may seem like an unlikely role model. But I’m going to add him to the arsenal of metaphors I use to recalibrate my take on life.

Many people may want us to fail. But we can choose, as Don Cherry does, not to play that game. If our currency of success is honour, integrity and values, we can’t go far wrong.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog. Visit www.smashwords.com to download a free preview of the e-book version.

~ Subscribe to “Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka Things That Make Me Go Hmmm” at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2. Instructions for subscribing are provided in the “Subscribe to this Blog: How To” instructions page in the right sidebar. If you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly to my page for postings once a week.

~ Send comments or questions to michael@mdyetmetaphor.com.

Tags:   · · · · · No Comments