Sunday, December 14, 2008

Winning by flying under the radar

Something about all the lying, fake alliances and mean things the players all say about each other makes the television reality show "Survivor" more stressful than entertaining to me. But I do often watch the finale, including tonight as a high school Physics teacher from Maine was on (and won). When asked how they made it to the finals, a common answer is "well, I tried to fly under the radar ... "

A few thoughts:

1. Many go their entire association careers "flying under the radar." As a strategy. Like all careers, it's possible to retire having been really innovative, really risk-taking .... or really forgettable. And it's also possible to accomplish big things while needing to be "under the radar" to do it, that no one but you really knows.
2. Really bad and really good legislation/regulations can get passed "flying under the radar." As a strategy. I think it feels worse to lose something that way than an all-out battle. But it's a strategy for winning too.

Also, I'm genuinely not surprised someone from Maine won. For a small state, there's a large amount of talented people here.

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