Ep 152 | Winning the Battle but Losing the War

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick and welcome to the No Days Off podcast where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Let's get into it. Today I want to talk about the phrase winning the battle but losing the war. Now, why do I want to talk about that phrase? I'll tell you, last week I was on a call with an individual I work with. And I had made the statement based on what she was sharing with me. I said something to the effect of, geez, it really sounds like you may have won the battle, but I gotta ask, are you losing the war? And I'm glad I asked that question. It was a good one. And it was timely. But when I hung up the phone, I wasn't quite sure what sparked me to say it. It's not a phrase I typically use. And I couldn't help but say, you know what, I need to research this phrase, where it comes from, what's its origination, did I even use it in the right context, and how is it applicable outside of this conversation I just had? You know, I think it's— frankly, I'm like, this is something maybe our listeners at No Days Off need to hear. Maybe the nation needs to understand that No Days Off nation can relate to winning the battle but losing the war. So let's talk about the origination of the phrase. Surprisingly, there's nobody, there's no one that's pinpointed or, or, or given credit for the phrase. I think the concept's probably been out there forever and ever, and it's been expressed in a variety of different forms across all different sorts of cultures and languages throughout history. So there's not anybody that can claim that phrase, but it's a common theme in strategy and tactics and in decision-making. And, and of course, it likely originated in, in fact, military scenarios and war. One of the earliest and most well-known examples of the concept can be found in The Art of War by Sun Tzu, which we talked about, The Art of War. I referenced it probably, I don't know, 20, 30 episodes ago. Sun Tzu and The Art of War, an ancient Chinese military document. It was written in the 5th century. And Sun Tzu discusses the importance of strategic thinking and understanding long-term implications. And that's what really this phrase, winning the battle but losing the war, think of what it really pertains to. So let's talk about some, some real life examples of where companies may have won the battle but lost the war. So let's, let's imagine a company that wants to increase its profits. It's short-term profits. And so what it does is it decides to cut costs by maybe reducing its workforce or reducing the quality of its products. And as a result, the company in fact does achieve temporary increase in profits. And this particular company, let's say it's public, so its stock price rises. Now, in this scenario, the company wins the battle. It successfully cuts costs, it boosts its profits in the short term, it experiences a rise in stock price. So this may be seen as a victory in the sense that it brought immediate financial gain. However, that's winning the battle, losing the war. This company may realize that the reduced product quality leads to a loss of customer trust and loyalty over time. Maybe employee morale is low. Maybe the company's reputation ends up being damaged. So over time, sales will decline and the company's long-term viability is going to be threatened. So while it may have won the battle, its long-term viability being threatened, it may have lost the war, war in terms of its overall health and sustainability. So in this example, that short-term financial victory in cutting costs and boosting profits is outweighed by the longer-term consequences of losing the customers and potentially damaging the brand and losing the business altogether. So that's a fictitious example. How about a real-life example? I like this one that I came across. Coca-Cola. Some of you may remember quite some time ago that in the mid-'80s Coca-Cola came out with New Coke, right? So Coca-Cola released its new formula known as New Coke. For the younger generation, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but Coca-Cola actually came out with New Coke and it was a sweeter tasting soda, and it was sweeter over the original formula. And so, you know, this buzz around New Coke, because they had so much marketing around it, was amazing. It was actually met with really positive consumer response out the gate, and as a result, Coca-Cola's market share increased. So Coca-Cola won that battle, but, but It was short-lived. Why? Because despite its initial success and winning the battle in, in market share, the broader long-term consequences were unfavorable. There were a lot of devoted Coca-Cola drinkers that were really attached to the story that is Coca-Cola, the original formula, and they expressed a strong amount of negative reaction to the change. There was backlash, and it was intense. People were even protesting the elimination or the creation of New Coke and the slow elimination of the original Coca-Cola. They were writing letters, they were doing all sorts of things. So Coca-Cola had a public relations crisis on its hands, and the brand lost some trust and loyalty. And so this problem got so big that Coke Coca-Cola decided to reintroduce the original formula, but this time they called it Coca-Cola Classic. And within a few months, New Coke was eventually discontinued. So in this example, Coca-Cola appeared to win the battle by introducing this new popular formula, but over time they actually lost the war as the negative consequences alienated their loyal customer base and it damaged their brand, and they had to battle back from that. Another real-life example, Yahoo, the company Yahoo. In 2005, the company Yahoo made a strategic investment in Alibaba, which is the Chinese e-commerce giant. Yahoo put $1 billion into Alibaba for a 40% stake. So it was not an insignificant investment. It was rather major. Yahoo's investment in Alibaba was perceived, at least out the gate, as incredibly wise because Alibaba took off. That business grew rapidly. Its valuation went through the roof, and Yahoo's investment rather quickly was worth multiples of that original billion. So it seemed like a massive financial success. They won that battle. However, because it was such a significant investment, And because it was global in the way that it was, Yahoo's focus on its core business and its execution of its own strategy actually suffered over the years. And so while Alibaba was actually making money, that investment was profitable, it was also a major distraction to Yahoo. And Yahoo, as a result, had a number of internal challenges and lost market share in all of its core businesses. So in the long run, Yahoo's core internet services continued to decline, and it had a whole array of issues after that— leadership changes, identity crisis— and eventually it sold off its core internet business to Verizon in 2017. So while that Alibaba investment was a massive financial win, it had an adverse impact on the company's broader success, and it brought about a whole host of strategic challenges. So in the example, Yahoo won the financial battle by making a successful investment in Alibaba. That was a battle won, but they ultimately, ultimately lost the war by neglecting the core of their business, and they lost— failed to maintain their position as, at one time, the most dominant internet company. So, you know, I give these two examples and why am I talking about, you know, winning the battle but losing the war? I think this, this phrase is so applicable, not just in business, but in health, in wealth, in relationships, in so many places. I mean, let's, let's take relationships for instance. Ever have an argument or debate? Oh, I guess, I guess, I guess an argument's an argument, right? I call it a debate because I don't want to call it an argument. I want to feel better about it, but ever have an argument and feel like I was right. I proved that I was right. And maybe you were right, you won that battle. But the long-term consequences, you know, you lose the war, right? Were you short-sighted? How about in health? I'll give you an example of real-life example for me in health. I recently did an episode a week or two ago, two weeks ago, about the Chicago Marathon. I ran that marathon. I didn't really train all that well for that marathon, and I ran a really good time for me, and I was, I was proud of that accomplishment. Well, guess what? Here I am a few weeks later, and my leg is still messed up, uh, in that I haven't recovered fully from that race, and I'm supposed to run in another week or two in a, in another big marathon. While I may have won the battle because I did not prepare for the longer term, I haven't lost the war just yet, but I'm certainly struggling at this very moment. So my short-term thinking impacted my long-term plans in that particular case around my health. Wealth. We could talk about this all day long. Winning a short-term investment, that might be nice, but if you're pulling money from something that could play favorably in the long term, think about it. You take the 2000, '08, '09, 2007, '08, '09 housing crisis, where so many people sold their properties because they were in points of pain and they got out of that pain. I would, I would consider that winning the battle. But here we are 15, 16 years later, and everybody wishes they still own those properties, but they didn't have a long-term vision. We lost the war on that one. So lots of different places where this applies. And what I want you to think about today, I want you to contemplate in your world right now, Where are you potentially winning battles but losing the war? Based on that analysis, what do you need to start doing differently? What could you even do differently starting today to make certain that you have a better chance of winning the war, the longer-term game, versus being so focused on the short-term battle? That's all I have for you today. The No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.