A very colorful Baltimore sports commentator, Charlie Eckman, had a favorite phrase he used over and over.  After a game won by expert execution of fundamentals, he often said, “It’s a very simple game, folks.” (Eckman’s story is pretty interesting if you are so inclined https://www.pressboxonline.com/story/2183/remembering-eckman ).

In sports, there are clear winners and losers. The object is victory. Despite a lack of consensus on the why of it, what is clear is that some part of human nature responds passionately to the urge to be victorious.

 

A Simple Game

 

At Pendant, we agree in a way with Eckman that it’s a “simple game.” What I mean is that we believe in certain principles that are simple to live by. They are not necessarily easy to live by. But when we live by them, they work.

One of our most preciously-held principles is the aim to achieve win-win solutions.  On our home page you can find the following statement in the “How We Do Business” section:

“We will treat each other, our clients, and our suppliers with fairness and respect and we seek business relationships with those who will treat us with fairness and respect.”

Fairness and respect are necessary precursors to win-win solutions. We seek out business relationships with like-minded people.

But there might be a more subtle benefit to adhering to this principle. Not everyone sees things the same way. But, we find that when we approach a situation as a win-win, it almost always leads to a win-win solution. It happens even in cases where we don’t know the other party very well. Both parties emerge with a good feeling.

It may be that we are frequently just lucky enough to come across like-minded people.  It may be that holding to the principle is just that effective at producing the result we want. Given that part of human nature drives us to want to win, we’re not smart enough to know why it works. But it’s clear that if we focus only on ourselves, the less we get what we want.

And what we want are productive, long-lasting relationships with people we trust and who trust us. We have many such relationships and we thank you if you are part of one of them. It’s way more fun working with people like you. Let’s keep winning together, repeatedly.

I want to win, too!