152 Leading with NLP
so a player who sees the world full of competitors and selfish
opportunists will excite that very behaviour from others and
so confirm their belief. These players never learn, because
they do not connect their actions with the consequences.
Clearly these players will always do worst in the long run and,
like a jungle, the market is an unforgiving environment for
the poorly adapted, so they will become extinct.
The leadership strategy is clear: trust and co-operate first
unless you have information to the contrary. Retaliate im-
mediately when you meet non-cooperation and make it clear
why you are doing so. Link it clearly to the other’s lack of trust.
Meet trust and co-operation with trust and co-operation.
Co-operation is a pragmatic strategy; trust is enlightened
self-interest.
games and meta games
People mistrust others because they see the world as a ‘zero
sum game’. Zero sum games must have a winner and a loser.
The winner wins at the loser’s expense. Chess, political elec-
tions, horse races, tennis are all zero sum games – for every
winner, there must be a loser. A plus and a minus makes
nothing, hence the title – zero sum – nothing left over.
Zero sum games always involve these assumptions:
- Resources are scarce, there is not enough to go around
and there never will be. - Keep your strategy a secret, knowledge is power,
otherwise the other players will beat you. - Anything that hurts another player is good for you. You
can win by hurting all the other players while giving away
nothing yourself.
Non-zero sum games do not need to have a winner and a
loser; all players may do well or badly. In these games one
player’s misfortune does not necessarily help others, it may
actually make it harder for the other players. Markets,