Tim Leberecht: The End of Winning: Why We Must Learn to Lose (Without Becoming a Loser)

As we face climate chaos, growing social inequity, and technology conflicting with or even undermining human wellbeing, it is becoming increasingly clear that the winner-takes-all mantra that has governed the business world for so long must be replaced. Winning is yesterday’s game, welcome to the age of losing, Tim Leberecht posits in his provocative new book about The End of Winning that challenges our notions of success and wellbeing, as well as the false comfort of “failing fast.” Leberecht argues that we will lose the allure of growth; the stability of full-time employment; the promise of linear, progressive careers; any sense of clear-cut, consistent identities and relationships; and our concept of self, as we increasingly outsource our thinking and even sensing to technology. Paradoxically, to win the future, we must become better at losing. From resistance to restraint to surrender, Leberecht explores actions we can take on the political, organizational, and personal level to help us build a successful culture of losing. He proposes “strategies for losing” so we can nurture businesses and economies that do not just tolerate losing but celebrate it as the very essence of our humanity.