"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly."-Langston Hughes ("Quoteland," 1997-2001).
What was it that Phil Jackson brought to the L.A. Lakers that wasn’t there before? Spirituality, team spirit, and . . . ambition! It is this particular cocktail that just recently determined the difference between the Lakers and a team that was just as strong, talented, and well coordinated as they: the Sacramento Kings.
Ambition: some refer to it with a tone of respect in their voice; others will give you the idea that it's a dangerous disease you’re talking about. That is, because ambition can be looked at from different perspectives. It's up to you whom you want to listen to, but Mark Twain suggests, "Keep away
from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." ("Quoteland," 1997-2001).
Ambitious people know one thing: they always find a way to reach their goals, no matter how hard it is or how long it takes. Ambition does not only require a great amount of determination and focus, but also a firm sense of self-confidence.
The ambitious ones among us are known to be competitive. Nothing wrong with that. As long as competition brings out greater performance in all parties, it should be something to encourage. Unfortunately, ambition can also drive
people to the dark corners of jealousy, dishonesty, and even crime.
Many authors have mentioned the Enron scandal in one breath with ambition during the past months, explaining that this company’s ambitious team was driven in such a way, that their ambition switched into greed, and ultimately into crime. So this, then, would be an example of ambition turning into a
weakness.
But isn't it so, that every positive characteristic can be perceived from a gray-looking angle, once it’s overdone? The art is to maintain the equilibrium that will keep your ambition within the borders of fairness and generally accepted rules, but even more: your own principles! After all, you're the one you have to face several times a day in the mirror for a long
time to come, right?
All-in-all, ambition is the driver that makes small companies in disadvantaged countries go global; that makes people change their acts from mediocre into star performance in the area of their desire; that makes winners what they are: winners.
Anon explained ambition almost poetically when he wrote, “We are told never to cross a bridge until we come to it, but
this world is owned by men who have "crossed bridges" in their imagination far ahead of the crowd” ("Quoteland," 1997-2001).
Ambition marks the difference between striving to be number 1, and being satisfied with a well-deserved second place. Ambition represents itself in a multitude of ways. Sometimes in hundredths of seconds at Olympic games and World-Championships: when the winner reaches the limit just one fraction of a fragment of a splinter sooner than number two. That was ambition driving
this person!
That "big results require big ambitions," (James Champy, 1999) is illustrated in a Fortune Magazine article, where Sheff (2002) presents the story of a man in Shanghai, who built a company that now makes a third of all the baby strollers sold in the U.S. And while Sheff wonders if this man can keep his company getting bigger, "Goodbaby [the stroller company], estimates that its foreign business will grow at least 20% this year”(2000). Perceived against a background of extreme uncertainty in Shanghai, this is an aspiration to be respected.
The secret of this whole performance is, by the way, presented in one small sentence, by Simon Leung, CEO of Hong Kong-based Lerado, Goodbaby's chief competitor in the international stroller
market. He asserts, "Goodbaby's attitude reflects China: Enormous ambition and optimism—but the risks are no less great" (Sheff, 2002). Conclusion from this article: being ambitious requires taking risks. Nothing wrong with that either, but again, as long as you don’t overdo it.
Ambition can even trigger companies that perform in an almost saturated market to move ahead while all others in the field are nearly paralyzed. Serwer (2002) mentions one of the most obvious examples in the U.S. business world in his review of Dell Computer company’s approach, by discussing the
way "Michael Dell looms over the PC landscape like a giant, casting a shadow over all his unfortunate competitors."
Serwer explains, "This is a terrible time in a difficult business," and after mentioning the current recession,
as well as the Hewlett-Packard/Compaq merge as potential threats to this industry, he states that Dell "is the only PC maker you can count on to grow and grow and grow. Almost single-handedly, Dell is forcing this industry to consolidate" (2002). And Dell does not see the end to its expansion operations yet, because, explains Michael Dell, "We only have 14% global market share." In other words: we have a long way to go yet! That's ambition
talking!
So no matter what opponents will say, in and of itself ambition is a beautiful trait, and one we all can master. Like Mark Twain said, "ambition is a horse that more than one can ride" ("Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field," Fisher). We just have to sustain it with care, and make sure it
doesn't get out of hand.
As long as we are aware of the danger of ambition
flipping into greed, dishonesty and crime, it’s worth everyone’s while as a valuable characteristic. Therefore, "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." (Les Brown, "Quoteland,"” 1997-2001)
References:
* Serwer, A. (2002). Dell does domination (January 31), [On-line]. Fortune.com. Available:
http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?channel=artcol.jhtml&doc_id=205940
[2002, June, 2].
* Sheff, D. (2002). Goodbaby's Growing Pains, [On-line]. Fortune.com. Available:
http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?channel=artcol.jhtml&doc_id=206772
[2002, June, 2].
* Twain, M. Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field, [On-line]. Available:
http://www.twainquotes.com/Ambition.html [2002, June 2].
* Various. (1997-2001). Quoteland: Quotations by Topic, [On-line]. quoteland.com. Available: http://www.quoteland.com/topic.asp?CATEGORY_ID=7
[2002, June 2].
* Various. (1999)., [On-line]. Cyber Nation International, Inc. Available:
http://www.cyber-nation.com/victory/quotations/subjects/quotes_ambition.html
[2002, June 2].
Visit my webpage:
http://www.joanmarques.com
Burbank, California; May 29, 2002; Joan Marques, MBA, Doctoral Student
