This Guy’s Lucky We’re Publishing This

I must thank all the letter-writing sports fans along with most of the L.A. Times sportswriters for providing such great examples for my business clients and students of just how “attribution theory” works. The theory says that whenever we succeed, we attribute our success to our skill, preparation, etc. And whenever we lose (fail) we attribute it to luck or something else outside our control--never to the fact that we were outplayed, outcoached or beaten by someone with better skills. So when UCLA or USC goes late into the NCAA tournament, it must be because they have better athletes and game plans--and when another team, say Duke, beats them, it’s because of the refs, the NCAA, the crowd, the arena and the announcers.

For business managers, the danger in attribution theory is that one doesn’t learn to better plan and execute after a loss, and for L.A. sports teams, it means another lesson not learned: You got beat by a better team!

STEPHEN SCHUSTER

Tarzana