Does a Trophy Make You the Best?

I think about the competition of sports because unlike most industries, sports has the ability to narrow down the field to a few of the best.   You can’t really do that outside of sports most of the time.  Who is the smartest scientist?  Who is the best non-profit leader?  Who is the most talented guitarist?  Certainly you can argue these points.  But its because of head to head competition that sports most effectively measures “who is the best in the world”.

But even then, you can only measure position to position and even then, the same person that was MVP this Sunday may not be MVP next Sunday.  And the MVP in 2009 was not the MVP in 2010.  So the idea of reaching the top and now you’re the best in the world at something is a myth.  You’re always climbing.

Sure, you can get really precise when you look at individual sports that go head to head.  A tennis player or golfer is a very good measure of who is the best because its just you on the course versus the best in the world.  But you can’t win every round and you can’t win every match.  You’re only MVP for a while.  And even when you win the tournament and you’re the best on that day, did you actually score the best round in history?  Or were you just good enough to beat the competition that day?

I think I wrote this to say… avoid people who claim to be the best.  They are lying or leaning on past history.  Instead, focus on the people who say they strive to be the best.  They’re simply more trustworthy.

This article was inspired by Seth Godin‘s blog today: Selftruth (and the best violinist in the world).