Winning and Losing With Character

I love sports. It is the ultimate form of competition.

Individual sports, team sports, college, professional, the olympics, national championships, the super bowl, I am in. If there is something meaningful on the line and people are competing to win, I want to watch.

In recent years, I have noticed a shift in the way athletes from opposing sides treat each other at the end of a sporting event. They have spent hours competing as hard as they possibly can. The game was physical, emotional, and strategic. Every possession mattered. Neither side wanted to give an inch. The fans were completely invested, and the energy in the stadium was electric. Then the clock runs out and final whistle blows with one side celebrating the win and the other absorbing the disappointment.

That’s the moment the tone changes.

Players who spent the entire game trying to beat each other begin meeting in the middle of the field. The losing team congratulates the winner. Players shake hands, hug each other, smile and take selfies, exchange jerseys, and acknowledge the effort the other side gave. The final score still counts and the winner is still the winner. But the competition ends with an unmistakable display of mutual respect.

I think professional sports gives us a good picture of how competition should work in business. We should want to win. We should work hard enough to deserve the business and make a strong case for why someone should choose us. But that does not require us to resent the person trying to beat us.

Paul understood competition. In 1 Corinthians 9:24–25, he used the image of athletes running a race and told believers to “run to win.” He was talking about something far greater than business success, but I love the principle. Christianity does not require us to become passive competitors. We can prepare hard, compete hard, and want to win. But what kind of person do we become in the process?

Compete Without Making It Personal

By now you know I love competition. And I believe competition gives us an opportunity to express our faith and our relationship with Him through the way we respond to it.

When someone in your industry excels at what they do and receives recognition for their achievement, you have a choice. You can resent their success, or you can respect their achievement and let their performance challenge you to become better.

Romans 12:10 says, “Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” That verse is harder to digest when the person deserving honor is the person who made the sale over you, earned the recognition you hoped to receive, or simply performed better than you did on the corporate measuring stick.

I want to be clear about something. Christian competition does not require you to enjoy losing. But it should inspire you to recognize good work when you see it. Win or lose, the way you respond gives you another opportunity to let your conduct reflect Him.

There is something impressive about a business professional who can say, “They did a great job,” and truly mean it. Respect does not weaken your competitive image. It shows that another person’s success does not threaten your own.

Learn From the Person Who Beat You

Losing has a way of revealing what winning sometimes hides. When someone beats you for the business, the easiest reaction is to explain why they had an advantage. Maybe they had a better product. Maybe they underpriced you. Maybe the client made the wrong choice. Sometimes those things are true.

But sometimes the other person simply did a better job.

A strong competitor studies the loss without letting the loss define them. What did the other person do well? Where was their presentation stronger? What did the client respond to? There is usually more value in learning from the loss than spending the next week explaining why you should have won.

Competition becomes valuable when it sharpens you.

Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” We usually think about that verse in the context of friendship and mentorship, but I think the principle applies to professional competition too. Sometimes the person making you better is not on your team. Sometimes it is the person who went head-to-head against you and won.

Win Without Becoming Arrogant

Winning is where humility really gets tested because winning reveals character too.

Think of it this way. You were up against two other competitors and you made the sale. Your proposal was chosen, and your company earned the business. Enjoy it. You worked hard for the opportunity, and there is nothing wrong with celebrating the win.

But do not let winning convince you that you are better than the person you beat.

Proverbs 24:17–18 says, “Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble.” I would not normally describe a business competitor as an enemy, but the principle fits. God is not impressed when another person’s loss becomes an excuse for our arrogance.

Like in sports, every successful businessperson eventually learns that today’s victory does not guarantee a win tomorrow. And just because you believe God is on your side, you are not guaranteed success. Remember, God might be on the other side too!

How you handle victory becomes part of your reputation. A gracious winner does not need to remind everyone who lost or use the victory as an excuse to diminish the competition. The result already speaks for itself.

Lose Without Becoming Bitter

The real test comes when the client chooses someone else, the contract goes to a competitor, or another professional receives the opportunity you believed should have been yours. Disappointment is natural. Nobody works hard to win and then feels good about losing.

The danger Christian businesspeople must avoid is allowing the loss to change the way we speak about the person who won. The competition must never change our character.

A Christian businessperson should be able to lose without becoming petty. You can be disappointed and still congratulate the winner. You can believe you should have won and still show respect. Those two things can exist at the same time.

That takes us right back to the athletes meeting at midfield. The losing player is not pretending the loss does not hurt. He wanted to win. But the game is over, and he is secure enough to acknowledge the person standing across from him. There is a lesson in that for all of us.

Business Unusual

I keep coming back to the idea that Christian businesspeople should not be the business normal. We do not need to advertise our faith in every transaction, but the way we compete should become noticeable over time.

People should know they can compete against us without being attacked personally. They should know that we will deal honestly and that if they outperform us, we are secure enough to acknowledge it.

That is business unusual, and business memorable.

People remember whether you congratulated them after the win and whether you stayed the same person after a loss. Over time, that kind of conduct builds a professional reputation that no marketing campaign can manufacture.

Those are the people others want to compete with, work with, and refer business to. Let that be you.

The Mirror Moment

What does competition reveal about your character?

Think about the last time another professional succeeded at something you wanted. What happened inside you first? Did you respect the work they did, or did you look for a reason to discount it?

Now think about the last time you won. Were you gracious about it? Did success make you more confident, or did it give you an excuse to become arrogant?

Competition has a way of exposing parts of our character that ordinary business does not always reveal. It shows us how we respond when our pride is involved and when somebody else gets the result we wanted.

When you compete, compete to win. But when the competition is over, win or lose, continue to reflect His image in you.

Walk the Road This Week

Pay attention to the next competitive moment in your business life. It might happen when a client is choosing between you and someone else, when a contract is being awarded, or when another professional receives recognition you wanted.

If you win, handle it with humility. If you lose, handle it with respect. If someone outperforms you, learn from it instead of resenting it.

Christian businesspeople should never be known as easy competitors. We should prepare well, serve well, and compete hard for the business we believe we have earned.

But when the competition is over, we should also be able to walk across the field, shake hands, and sincerely respect the person on the other side.

The score still counts and winning still matters.

Character matters more.

Let's keep walking the Road together,

Dennis Jones
Founder and Publisher