“First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.”
This quote by Ghandi has been heard by many, and there is much to gain from it. It provides a sequential set of responses that you will have to deal with as you build up in some category. Having an idea of the stages gives you a sense of what to expect during your expansion, so that you are much better able to control how you handle the effects. Without keeping this set in mind, you might end up becoming unhelpfully angry at any of the stages before the victory would set in. I will use an example of starting an online rare books store.
First they ignore you.
At first, noone would know about your online business. Some people would run across it, and then actively ignore it, as it would seem to be irrelevant and lacking in acceptance by the public. Others would see it, and instead of telling others about your useful creation, pretend as though nothing of value was seen.
Then they laugh at you.
Soon after, some people would start to make comments that don’t help your building of the business, like “Aren’t there already other rare books stores online?” or “You don’t have a chance in that industry.” These comments would fit into the category of them laughing at you. They will come in many forms, and the indirect forms are the ones that can halt your efforts the most. Overarching lines like “Don’t you think demand for rare books is decreasing?” can be used by others to halt your progress.
Then they fight you.
The next step would be competitors of your category starting to use methods to topple your efforts. This is a standard response that shows up because you may start taking their customers. The “struggles” of rising are only there because other individuals purposely place them there to keep you from entering their domain. Some examples would be someone hacking into your rare books website, talking negatively about you on a book reselling site, or talking condescendingly about your site on their book reselling site.
Then you win.
The last step, if you were able to handle each of these previous steps, would be success in your chosen field.
Another way to make use of this quote is to think of it in reverse. If you don’t want a competitor to get to the final stage, you might want to refrain from performing the actions in the previous stages. Ignoring a new competitor might be fine in the short-term, but in the long-term, it could result in your efforts being overtaken because you weren’t staying percipient. If you laugh at new competitors, you are actually energizing them to work harder. That is not beneficial for your business undertaking. After that point, their efforts may be at the same level as your efforts, and you will have no choice but to battle them. The victory would then go to whoever was more prepared.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Brilliant post Armen; this is a great quote from Gandhi and you have explained it extremely well.
Sharing best practice and working with competitors only ever creates a better environment leading to improved products and services; in one sense you have no competitors….everyone is in it together. Success comes from working with others rather than against them; healthy competition as opposed to unhealthy competition.
Why dedicate time and energy anywhere else other than on improving your own performance and service, be it individually or as a company? Positive focus is the only true goal achiever.
The misapprehension is that by knocking others down it makes you stronger in some way; that is short-sighted and short-lived and sadly, a waste of ability and resources.
Restaurants are a classic example – if the food is good it speaks for itself, and it sells itself. Better then to focus on the quality of your food. Maybe that is why they say “the proof is in the pudding”?
Thanks for a great and thought provoking post – I hope it helps many readers.
Paul: Thanks for that. I enjoyed breaking it into parts.
Knocking others down sure doesn’t help one’s own procedure that much. That misapprehension about knocking others down making you stronger is one to keep in mind anytime that desire comes up.
Your example of a restaurant is fitting. Some early reviews of the restaurant might say things like “They should close up now, since their food isn’t up to the standard of other local restaurants.” The response to a line like that has to be controlled.
Thank you for your appreciation of the material.
I’m with Paul – I think everyone wins by working together. Finding the niche that supports other people in your industry while they support you.
Alex: This is a sure bet. Also, it keeps you in line with staying in your field of interest, so that creations can abound.
Twitter: swollenthumb
February 23, 2009 at 12:58 am
Gandhi had some awesome quotes, and this is one of my favorite ones. I think it says a lot about the human mind, because I agree with this quote 100%.
They ignore you, because they are self absorbed, and either don’t notice you, or hope that they’ll prevent others from noticing you.
If they continue to see you around, they will laugh at you. They now know that other people are taking notice of you, and they want to prevent you from gaining momentum. They know that the newness that you are fighting to overcome can work in their favor if they can get people to laugh alongside them.
If that doesn’t work, they’ll get desperate and try to fight you… meaning that they’ll take steps to try to reverse your success. They don’t want to have to increase the value that they provide! They’re plenty comfortable in their life, and don’t want to have to continue working to maintain that comfort.
Eventually, if you persevere, people will realize this about them, and you’ll win.
Trey: This is valuable perspective, and I would want readers of your comment to add it as an extended description of each of the steps.
The ending has a powerful fragment in “people will realize this about them”, as that is a key point of change in how the other person is viewed and compared with you.
This process serves to clear out those that are not ready to battle through, and at the same time, clear out past winners if they aren’t fulfilling their roles.
What a great post Armen! Success comes to anyone who is able to survive the first three stages of responses which is typically experienced when someone tries to go against the norm. I love this quote by Ghandi. Thanks a lot for reminding me about it and explaining it so well!
Celes: Thank you for that. Going against the norm sure does get these stages to occur quite readily. I am glad to have provided this material. I like that you used “survive” to describe handling the three stages, and that is the right way to look at it, because not handling them would be the end of the process one was feeling resistance for.
Thanks for this post. Sometimes we need to be reminded of the success that is to come with hard work and perseverance.
I’m surprised I haven’t come across this quote before.
Ibrahim: I am glad to have presented it, and that reminder sure can be useful at certain times. For persons, such as yourself, that had not heard this quote, that is an added benefit here.
Twitter: pletcherkhq
March 14, 2009 at 7:17 am
I like this quote. You could call it “3 stages of opposition”. And they’re not unusual stages, either. They happen quite regularly when attempting any ambitious project or change in the status quo. So think of them as “3 trials”. Expect them; face them; learn from them… and overcome them.
Are you going for the win? Then keep learning and improving and persisting. Rock on, and rock hard.
—–
And now for the fourth stage. As Ghandi says:
“Then you win.”
Hmmmm. That is not entirely correct. Yes, you may win… but not always. The win has to be potentially possible. (This is a topic worthy of an article or two in itself.) You can’t always get the trophy you desire, even if you do everything right.
Not to fear, though. What is potentially possible and what we tend to THINK is possible are two very different things. You should be comforted that our thoughts and beliefs of what is possible tend to fall far, far short of reality. (Think about that last sentence for a minute.) Our internal prejudices and misunderstandings have a tendency to obstruct our vision. Thus, the scope of possibilities available in reality often surpasses the scope of possibilities that we see in our imagination.
So what are you capable of? Probably much more than you thought was possible.
But you don’t have to take my word for it. As Thomas Edison said:
“If we did all the things we were capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”
Karl: That title “3 stages of opposition” would probably work just as well for the article. The stages do regularly come up due to action or change.
It certainly is possible that winning won’t result, but this is more of a description of the path to victory, and the stages that precede it. However, you are right in that the path can be traveled through, and if the person does not battle through all three stages, the victory may not arrive.