"...Suppose that I am a top sprinter, and I go away and adopt the principles of purposeful practice and, as a result, reduce my time by 10 per cent.
When I come to run my next race, I will zoom past many of my competitors. This is great news for me, but it is very bad for them. My relative position has improved as a result of my new training regime, but at their expense.
The net ‘benefit’ across the group is zero. Now suppose I adopt the principles of purposeful practice not in sport but in the workplace, and as a consequence, increase my productivity and salary by 10 per cent. I have personally benefited from my new work ethic, but now I can also spend 10 per cent more on groceries, running shoes , haircuts, and so on, benefiting all those with whom I do business.
I have improved my life, but I have also improved the lives of those around me.Economics, to use the jargon, is a win-win game. Precisely the same insight applies if we widen the perspective.
Suppose I am a runner, and that all my competitors join me in adopting the principles of purposeful practice, and that we all improve our times by 10 per cent.
Our relative positions in the next race will be precisely the same as they ever were. The net benefit, once again, is zero.
But if everyone applies purposeful practice in the workplace, improving all-round productivity by 10 per cent, the gains to society are huge and, over time, cumulative. Economics is a game where everyone can win simultaneously: productivity gains allied to trade generate further productivity gains and more trade, and so on. Win-win-win. This analysis goes to the heart of this chapter, and reveals its central irony.
It is only in sport that the benefits of purposeful practice are accrued by individuals at the expense of other individuals, and never by society as a whole. But this is precisely the area in which purposeful practice is pursued with a vengeance, while it is all but neglected in the areas where we all stand to benefit...."
When I come to run my next race, I will zoom past many of my competitors. This is great news for me, but it is very bad for them. My relative position has improved as a result of my new training regime, but at their expense.
The net ‘benefit’ across the group is zero. Now suppose I adopt the principles of purposeful practice not in sport but in the workplace, and as a consequence, increase my productivity and salary by 10 per cent. I have personally benefited from my new work ethic, but now I can also spend 10 per cent more on groceries, running shoes , haircuts, and so on, benefiting all those with whom I do business.
I have improved my life, but I have also improved the lives of those around me.Economics, to use the jargon, is a win-win game. Precisely the same insight applies if we widen the perspective.
Suppose I am a runner, and that all my competitors join me in adopting the principles of purposeful practice, and that we all improve our times by 10 per cent.
Our relative positions in the next race will be precisely the same as they ever were. The net benefit, once again, is zero.
But if everyone applies purposeful practice in the workplace, improving all-round productivity by 10 per cent, the gains to society are huge and, over time, cumulative. Economics is a game where everyone can win simultaneously: productivity gains allied to trade generate further productivity gains and more trade, and so on. Win-win-win. This analysis goes to the heart of this chapter, and reveals its central irony.
It is only in sport that the benefits of purposeful practice are accrued by individuals at the expense of other individuals, and never by society as a whole. But this is precisely the area in which purposeful practice is pursued with a vengeance, while it is all but neglected in the areas where we all stand to benefit...."
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