The Thin Line Between Victory and Defeat

People around New Orleans were glued to weather channels as hurricane season was in full bloom. Meteorologists had their eyes on a large tropical depression southwest of Cape Verde. As it moved through warm water passing over Cuba, this storm became a Category 5 hurricane directly headed for The Big Easy. It was so powerful, in fact, that the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory detected a freak wave around 91 feet from peak to trough and 660 feet long. The laboratory had never seen one like this before.

But right before landfall, for reasons still unknown, Hurricane Ivan weakened considerably and the southwest portion of the storm disappeared. It was still a powerful Category 3 hurricane hitting Gulf Shores, Alabama, causing severe damage. But New Orleans, which had urged its citizens to evacuate, was spared. It was a massive win for the city, as its outdated and unreliable levies were not needed.

What happened to New Orleans after its “so-called” win was what American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne wrote in the song “The Road.” “We forget about the losses and exaggerate the wins. The city of New Orleans exaggerated the win — forgetting how close it came to losing the city. Sadly, a year later, the city would face its most significant catastrophe when Hurricane Katrina arrived. Had the city prepared and taken the necessary steps after Ivan, perhaps lives could have been saved when Katrina arrived.

We all tend to exaggerate the wins — we all tend to forget about the losses. Yet, when we take the scoreboard away, we need to examine how close we actually were to losing and use that thin line as motivation to change our behavior for the next quarter or next game. New Orleans put people in the Superdome during Hurricane Ivan even though it knew it was not Hurricane proof — but there was no choice, they were not prepared. A year later, they did the same thing, not because of a lack of preparation but because they didn’t study that thin line between victory and defeat.

We cannot allow success to spoil our analysis. We cannot allow good fortune to change our perspective. When we win a game after overcoming severe odds, we cannot pat ourselves on the back and act like we dominated every second. We need to treat these as if we lost — and study how we can improve.

New Orleans had its chance to do this with Ivan, but unfortunately, as Browne sang, the city exaggerated the win.

Please forward and share this email with your friends and family.