We simply cannot lose wars. Our stricter personnel regulations, which I discussed earlier, pass judicial and congressional scrutiny because of the absolute imperative that we defend our Constitution. We have higher standards because we believe that they contribute to victory. We have higher standards because the price of failure in our work is too consequential to imagine. Losing is not an option.
Higher standards help guarantee the desired result.
Similarly, professional sports organizations, with the possible exception of the Florida Marlins this year, are organized around the principle that the franchises exist for the sole purpose of winning championships. Almost everybody else in the country businesses from Microsoft to the corner drug store, government agencies from the federal to the local level, school systems, non-profit organizations, religious institutions has the luxury of defining success in some terms other than winning or losing. All the organizations that view success in terms of profits or share price or measures of effectiveness or average test scores can win without anybody else losing. Compaq and Dell Computer can both succeed for their employees, owners, and customers without either one driving the other one out of business. They are hard-nosed competitors, but ultimately both can be winners.