Jim Johnson argues that prioritizing short-term competitive gains ("getting ahead," "one up," pushing others down) may yield fast growth but rarely produces long-term legacy. He advocates putting others first: by serving others rather than focusing on self-interest, you build reciprocal loyalty and sustainable, inheritable success.
But we don't do it because we have been tempted by the world to go a different route, to get ahead to one up, to compete at a high level and push everybody else down. That approach may work in the short term. There's no doubt about it. I've seen lots of companies grow really fast and, you know, they're all over the place. But whenever you see somebody like that, where are they five years later? Where are they 10 years later? Where are they legacy wise? And very few of those have I seen actually become a legacy type company, an inheritance to their people and to their family. That's because it all became about now and all became about them, instead of it being about everybody else out there. And when we put everybody else first, their natural response is to put you first.
