The End of Nothing
Win-win vs Lose-lose and what sits in between
There's a new zero-sum current in the air, an effort to reframe opportunity from limitless to a fixed, all-American apple pie concept.
In the workplace, zero-sum thinking is already manifesting. Diversity initiatives are being challenged, a new Executive Order ending all DEI practices in the government is in place, and some state and local governments are enacting measures to restrict or regulate hiring practices seen as discriminatory. The potential for political and cultural backlash against "woke” and the focus on short-term value creation may also impact other efforts, such as pay transparency and climate initiatives.
ZZZRRRT! (sharp scratch of a needle yanked off the record)
Stop. Isn't this a newsletter about designing the work life you love?
Yes!
So why am I going here?
Two reasons.
First, designing the workplace you love also means fighting for it.
Second, I can't stop thinking about that recent and indecent White House meeting, where the strong ones showed up in force and told the weakest person in the room: “You gotta be more thankful.”
Zero-sum thinking and gratitude
I am a white Latina woman who grew up hyper-privileged in Brazil. When I returned to the US to work for Google, I was so grateful for the opportunity that I could not see the differences between myself and my Latinx colleagues in the quest for progress. "Really, can't we say thanks and move on? Aren't we lucky enough to have these amazing jobs?”
In time, I formed deep bonds with incredible Black and LatinX Googlers born and raised in the US who spoke unapologetically and clearly about how gratitude had no place in that conversation. There is no room for comfort when there is still so much to be done.
In Brazil, cultural wisdom celebrates finding happiness with what you've got (a cold beer, good friends, and finally, an Oscar!) It's lovely. However, it has probably kept the system unequal and unfair. I cringe as I write this, as I've been an active participant in the system.
In zero-sum thinking, life is a battle over fixed resources. In the article Welcome to the Zero Sum Era, Damien Cave (NYT) writes:
"This is what's called zero-sum thinking — the belief that life is a battle over finite rewards where gains for one mean losses for another.
Cave explains how zero-sum thinking impacts culture—shaping views on college admissions, fueling competitive narratives like "Squid Game," and supporting the idea that immigrants steal jobs from Americans. He also goes into how zero-sum thinking often leads to lose-lose scenarios, for which he cites several historical examples (including World War I and II, which were spurred on by zero-sum approaches to international relations.)
It's thinking that "pinches perspective, sharpens antagonism and distracts our minds from what we can do with cooperation and creativity."
Regarding gratitude, in zero-sum environments, there is less appreciation for collective progress toward what most of us thought was a more decent system, including environmental care and diversity, because these are viewed as advantages for one group at the expense of another.
As we saw in the Oval Office, gratitude can be weaponized to reinforce power dynamics. In environments marked by inequality and steep power imbalances, gratitude is used to maintain a system that favors the powerful.
Lose-lose is not an option
There is still much to be done everywhere, but we have made strides in building a more equitable society across education, professional opportunities, and political representation over the past few decades. It happened not despite but with the backing and support of people from all walks of life, who did not, and still do not, see "woke" as a sucker's game.
But we are a little like Ukraine here.
The long-running campaign for fairness, which dates from the beginning of time, is not a war won by taking by force. And it will continue for as long as gaps in leadership, persistent gender pay gap, and other inequities remain.
Stopping now and saying thank you very much is not an option.
Resetting the baseline and holding the fort
When there was a clear runway ahead, we set a baseline a few rungs above reality. Our objective of fairness and equity was our baseline for a workplace we could love.
On the way there, we lost our narrative. "Being woke," which used to mean someone aware of systemic inequalities, became a pejorative term indicating absurd political correctness and the end of meritocracy. And, unfortunately, the narrative is more important than the facts.
Everyone wants to know how to forge a counternarrative to rise above the current chaos. That will come.
Meanwhile, I've been trying to avoid retreating into a shell while the implosion continues. Instead, I want to help us re-awaken our renegade spirit and clearly and unapologetically reject the notion that our worth has lessened because bullies have entered the playground.
Here are a few ideas on how this can work:
Challenge your old assumptions by asking really hard questions. Here are two examples: Did we do ourselves a disservice when we pushed for different hiring practices and, even if we never said the word, quotas? Were we applying zero-sum thinking if we thought some reparation was due?
Think differently: What are we willing to experiment with to find new ways forward? How much bigger are we going to make the tent where inclusion feels real?
Avoid the zero-sum trap: Reframe every lose-win challenge as an opportunity for mutual benefit. (One example? Say you are competing with someone else for a leadership role. You get it. How will you work differently with the person who did not so that they feel less like the loser?)
No matter your background, be an ally: What will you do each day to uplift someone else?
It's exhausting, but there is no room for complacency: Seek opportunities for everyone to win. Share them within your networks. Create and be a positive force for change.
[K]Now You: from lose-lose to win-win
Zero-sum thinking often stems from fear—fear of irrelevance, fear of scarcity, fear of not mattering.
Damian Cave's article's most striking (and heartbreaking) point is that the driving fear fueling zero-sum thinking is not resource scarcity but a lack of meaning, a desperation to matter.
"In 21st-century America, the more common, driving fear is not food or resource scarcity, but not enough meaning."
I relate to that and see it as an opportunity for action, namely, to identify and discuss how we all share the same goals. Groups like Braver Angels, Living Room Conversations, No Labels, and the Bipartisan Policy Center are already working on better dialogues.
The NYT article also references research by a professor and researcher from the Australian National University in Canberra, Michael Smithson, implying that even when zero-sum thinkers are in positions of power, those who resist their mindset can eventually create alternative systems with new partners and rules.
In an earlier Quitting Corp article, The Two Measures of Loss and Gain, I used Daniel Kahneman's work to highlight how loss aversion keeps us stuck. In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman argues that when issues are framed as contests over scarce resources, our minds default to win-lose scenarios, which are characteristics of zero-sum thinking.
Be the renegade that chooses to think slow, works to reframe problems, highlight mutual benefits, and identify the potential for collective gains.