Life is a Game Where Fair Players Are Winners by Marc LeVine

“Every game has rules. Obey the rules, win the game; disobey the rule, lose it! The game of life has loser and winners. Play fairly and win!” ―?Israelmore Ayivor

Small children don’t like losing games.?They will try almost anything to avoid being beaten at games, including redirecting everyone's attention to something else like eating ice cream or going outside to hunt for bugs.

Adults aren’t always the best losers, either.?We learned this during the 2020 and 2022 national election cycle, didn’t we?? So many highly professional men and women doing everything in their power not to accept their election losses.?Unfortunately, no one likes a "loser tag" pinned to them.?This group of shady candidates fought like Hell to try and steal that which was not earned by them. This is not fair play!

We try our best to model fair play behaviors in front of our children, so they grow up learning to accept the rule that we all need to be gracious in defeat. We teach them that losing instructs us in how to win. ?And we encourage them to stick to the rules and do their very best.?

Unfortunately, sometimes no matter how hard we try to win we may still lose to someone who just did better on that day.

People cheat. We're not naive.?Our prisons are full of those who stole from, lied to, and scammed the good people who trusted them. ?The courts are loaded with theft of service cases, in which products and services were not provided after payments for them were received. And the Ripoff Hall of Shame is populated with some horrible people, who had no qualms about cheating frail and unsuspecting senior citizens, the disabled, our honorable veterans and vulnerable young children.?The con artists saw them all as easy marks for their elaborate stings.

Those who have not engaged in fair play and are caught are punished and ostracized, including within the employment realm.? Bad reputations catch up with the disreputable and they often pay a price for their indiscretions often being eliminated for employment consideration resulting from the poor employment references given on their account. Few employers wish to risk exposing the rest of their employees and their customers to disreputable and dishonest people who might give their companies a bad name.?It is often better to pass on such characters in favor of others, who do not seem to bring that sort of problems to a new employer.?

Fair play is a noble expectation.?In it, everyone is given the same set of rules. They all agree to “play” by them. And they understand that they are solely responsible and accountable for their efforts. They also are willing to accept the possibility of losing and know to be gracious in defeat.?To be able to engage in fair play, all parties must have a high degree of integrity, emotional intelligence to begin with. They should not be narcissistic or potentially a sore loser.?

Many who grew up spoiled and told they must win at any cost never learned the proper lessons about fair play.?If they failed at sharing their toys with other small children, it is likely that no one stepped in to try and correct this behavior. ?They may have grown up seeing themselves at the center of a universe in which only they mattered. Think of the terrible things convicted felon Bernard Madoff did accepting no responsibility or shame for cheating so many good people out of their lives savings. He did this without remorse knowing that he and his family would continue to live in grand style.?That was not fair play.

Fair play is not a notion or choice.?It is the expected behavior of all good people in their dealings with others.?No one wants to be taken advantage of by anyone else.?In fact, even the same people who cheat others become very angry when they are scammed by other con artists.?We saw an example of this in the great 1974 film classic, “The Sting,” with Paul Newman and Robert Redford.?The crook – Robert Shaw – got out-crooked by other crooks and didn’t like it one bit.

We all have reputations to create and protect.?They are hard to build and very quick and easy to destroy.?Is winning all that important for anyone to risk their previously good reputation and deprive themselves of all the good things that come with it? Would you?

Are you a?CONTROLS ENGINEER?or?PROJECT MANAGER?looking for a new job? Visit:?www.thermosystems.com/careers

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The Author

Listen to Marc's latest interview on “Failing for You” with Jordan Yates

Marc LeVine is a graduate of Syracuse (NY) University with a degree in Industrial Psychology, Marc is currently Talent Acquisitions and Learning and Development Lead at Thermo Systems. He is the recipient of the Excellence in Talent Acquisitions Award from HR Awards in 2021.

Marc's prior employment includes senior Human Resources and Staffing Industry management roles with Edgewood Properties in Piscataway, NJ, Brickforce Staffing in Edison, NJ, InfoPro Inc. in Woodbridge NJ and Plainsboro, NJ and Harvard Industries in Farmingdale, NJ, a former Fortune 500 company. He also served as Director of Human Resources for New Jersey Press, the parent company of the Asbury Park Press, Home News and Tribune and WKXW-NJ101.5. Earlier in his career, Marc served as Director of Career Services and Placement at Union Technical Institute in Eatontown and Neptune, NJ. In addition, Marc owned and operated Integrity Consulting Associates, a New Jersey based Human Resources and Social Media Marketing firm for 11 years. Marc also served as Council President in his hometown of Freehold Borough, NJ