More Than Just Data: Still Not Feeling Good About This, Knock On Effects, Take A Bow BB.
Winning and succeeding are often used interchangeably, but these are very different concepts (unless you are a high level athlete, then they are often the same). Success, according to Mariam Webster, is defined as reaching a goal. Winning is defined as gaining, resulting in, or relating to victory in a contest or competition. While your goal could be to win, it certainly does not have to be.
There are some fundamental differences between these two concepts. Winning is about beating or being better than others. It tends to have an external component to it (it’s hard to win if no one else knows or is competing against you) and more often than not it is temporary in nature. Success, on the other hand, is about reaching goals and is not necessarily predicated on beating others. Many of the challenges we face these days often are due to a shift from the desire to succeed into the desire to win.
Our politics is a prime example of this shift. In the not too distant past, there tended to be more of a shared goal of ensuring success for the nation between the two main parties. There was always a desire to win in elections, but the time between elections was focused more on success than on winning. This has now shifted to every day being about trying to win and, in turn, making the other side lose. The goal for too many is no longer how to help the country succeed as a whole, but how to get one side to win.
The same can be said for our economy. The underlying concept of capitalism and a free market economy was to help as many companies as possible succeed. Today, we have more of an open-then-closed economy. The desire to create something new remains, but now once a company (or companies) finds success, they do as much as possible to pull the ladder up and try to ensure that competition will be minimal.
Our history is riddled with periods where winning was the desired outcome. Thumb through a timeline of world history and the years marked by prolonged wars tend to indicate a time period where the goal had moved on from success. Differences and disagreements will always be part of humanity. What we should all be taking a closer look at is the desired end result: to succeed or to win.
As always, here is some of the data that caught our eye this week.
1)???? 37%
While a strong majority of Americans feel there is a likelihood of violence after the November election (71%), it feels better to know that just 8% feel there will be violence no matter who wins and how they win. Almost one-quarter of Americans (23%) feel there will be violence no matter what if President Biden wins re-election, and 9% feel the same if former President Trump wins. The largest group (30%) feel it is very specific to the outcome.
For example, if President Biden wins the popular vote, and Trump wins the Electoral College by one state where there are lots of issues with the results, nearly 2 in 5 Americans (37%) think there will be violence on the level of January 6th or worse, including nearly half of those who voted for Trump in 2020 (47%).
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2)???? X = ?
It’s not often that a lack of data catches our eye, but according to multiple sources, Tesla has announced that workers in their California car plant will be getting a pay increase; they just haven’t said how much that increase will be. After the new deals signed by the United Automobile Workers (UAW) with the Big Three (General Motors, Stellantis (formerly Chrysler), and Ford Motor Company) last year, the UAW has made it clear that they are going to try to organize the workforce at this plant. The pay increase is likely a smart move by Tesla to make the union’s efforts more difficult, but it’s certainly an interesting move that the amount of the raise was not disclosed in announcements to workers.
Not sure if keeping people in suspense is a good or bad decision, but unless workers are being paid quarterly (pretty sure that’s not legal), then the news should be out there within the next two weeks. Will be interesting to see what X equals in this equation.
3)???? 24 = wow
As a New England native, I am obligated by law to mention the end of an era. Yesterday, the Patriots and Bill Belichick parted ways after 24 seasons. While there are certainly plenty of detractors out there, the overall numbers are impressive.
- 266 wins as the Patriots head coach compared to 121 losses (.687 winning percentage) in the regular season.
- 30 wins vs. 12 loses in the postseason (.714).
- 9 trips to the Super Bowl, winning 6 of them (.666).
Overall, he has the record for the most Super Bowl wins as a coach (8), most Super Bowl wins as a Head Coach (6), most Super Bowl appearances as a coach (12) and as a head coach (9), and most playoff wins as a head coach (31).
Love him or hate him, these are some impressive numbers.
We hope you enjoyed this week’s edition and, as always, we look forward to your thoughts and hearing what stories caught your eye this week.