Business Strategy - Sometimes a Tie Feels Like a Win
Posted by Vaughn Mordecai on Thu, Oct 15, 2009 @ 10:25 PM
I'm an avid soccer fan (some say rabid). I watch as many games as I can (yesterday I watched three) and study the game through books, coaching, and playing whenever opportunity permits. Soccer is truly an international game and in the United States, is culturally very different than other US sports. If you've ever been to a professional game, you'll know what I mean.
One of the characteristics of soccer that isn't true for most (if not all) other US sports is that many times, soccer games end in a tie. As a result, something occurs in soccer that just might be unique to the game. Yesterday (October 14), the US Men's national team played the Costa Rican Men's national team. It was a very exciting game. The Costa Rican team (The Tico's) scored two beautiful goals in the first half of the game, going ahead of the US 2-0 at the end of the first half. Two goals are often insurmountable in soccer. In this case they weren't. In the second half, the US team kicked it into gear and scored a goal in the 72nd minute (of a 90 minute game). Soccer has "extra or stoppage time" that is given at the end of each half to compensate for injuries on the field. The second half of this game had five minutes of stoppage time. In the last minute of the game, the US team scored a goal to tie the game.
One of the unique characteristics of soccer is that "sometimes a tie feels like a win"...yesterday was an example. On the flip side, "sometimes a tie feels like a loss." For the US, yesterday's tie was a win. For The Tico's, yesterday's tie must have felt like a loss.
Yesterday's tie started me thinking about whether this situation exhists in business or whether a "tie" is ever an appropriate business strategy.
1. Are there ties in business...I think there are...what are some examples?
2. Is a "tie" ever an appropriate business strategy?
3. Are there other sports where games end in ties and the ties feel like wins or losses?
4. Did you watch the game or have you ever experienced this in business or in sports?