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Make friends, not enemies: Rossi case study

#1 · June 21, 2023, 9:45 am

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on June 21, 2023, 9:45 am
The more successful you become, the more hubris can be your downfall.
And this is particularly true for very dominant and ambitious men.
I've seen several people who caused, accelerated, or worsened their own downfall by being overly competitive and making unneeded enemies.
Some examples:
Donald Trump, losing the presidency and bringing on himself endless legal and financial woes
Conor McGregor, emboldened his own worse competitor, increased the stake with his arrogance, and ended an otherwise illustrious career with the most stinging loss possible (few today consider him one of the greatest, albeit he could have been)
Valentino Rossi, destroyed his early adversaries when he had the power, but then got destroyed at the end similar to McGregor
Valentino Rossi is the example I watched the closest since I grew up yelling in front of the TV as a fanboy (and that taught me of the importance of never projecting your ego onto other people, groups, or made-up entities and ideals).
Today I was looking for some clips for Power University.
And I found this clip in which one of Rossi's fiercest competitor drew the exact same conclusions:
https://youtu.be/zlybvI-ax08?t=661
Some of the main passages:
Stoner: one thing that I've been saying lately, the worst thing he ever did was make enemies
Stoner: he made an enemy out of um out of me and mark and (...) Mark caused him a lot of problems and may have even cost him a championship in the end
As for everything, there are exceptions to the general rule.
For example, in purely amoral terms:
Make one enemy if it helps strengthen a bigger alliance (USA shoring up support from EU and Asia through Russia and China)
Make enemies for spotlight and money if you're going to win anyway, so you can attract media, make more money, and get you more fanboys (most of whom aren't high-quality people though since it's weak men attracted by the dominance they subconsciously wish they had)
Make the enemy you already have a bigger enemy to gain more political support. For example, populist or extremist movements gain from framing their opponents in highly negative terms
The general rule stands though.
And, at a higher level, finding alliances and scope for cooperation and win-win is superior to making enemies ("doh" moment, but it's in the specific applications of the general rule that many still miss it)

The more successful you become, the more hubris can be your downfall.

And this is particularly true for very dominant and ambitious men.

I've seen several people who caused, accelerated, or worsened their own downfall by being overly competitive and making unneeded enemies.

Some examples:

Donald Trump, losing the presidency and bringing on himself endless legal and financial woes
Conor McGregor, emboldened his own worse competitor, increased the stake with his arrogance, and ended an otherwise illustrious career with the most stinging loss possible (few today consider him one of the greatest, albeit he could have been)
Valentino Rossi, destroyed his early adversaries when he had the power, but then got destroyed at the end similar to McGregor

Valentino Rossi is the example I watched the closest since I grew up yelling in front of the TV as a fanboy (and that taught me of the importance of never projecting your ego onto other people, groups, or made-up entities and ideals).

Today I was looking for some clips for Power University.

And I found this clip in which one of Rossi's fiercest competitor drew the exact same conclusions:

Some of the main passages:

Stoner: one thing that I've been saying lately, the worst thing he ever did was make enemies
Stoner: he made an enemy out of um out of me and mark and (...) Mark caused him a lot of problems and may have even cost him a championship in the end

As for everything, there are exceptions to the general rule.

For example, in purely amoral terms:

Make one enemy if it helps strengthen a bigger alliance (USA shoring up support from EU and Asia through Russia and China)
Make enemies for spotlight and money if you're going to win anyway, so you can attract media, make more money, and get you more fanboys (most of whom aren't high-quality people though since it's weak men attracted by the dominance they subconsciously wish they had)
Make the enemy you already have a bigger enemy to gain more political support. For example, populist or extremist movements gain from framing their opponents in highly negative terms

The general rule stands though.
And, at a higher level, finding alliances and scope for cooperation and win-win is superior to making enemies ("doh" moment, but it's in the specific applications of the general rule that many still miss it)

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#2 · June 21, 2023, 10:08 am

I agree with you making enemies is not a good strategy for longevity.

I think about it a lot due to my often rocky relationship with my mum. I repeat to myself, don’t make an open enemy inside your own base. it’s like you said in power university think about the proximity.

McGregor had amazing skills, but also a big part of his success was him shit talking like a mad man. A lot of people outside of MMA got to know him through that.

A more strategical player would’ve toned it down outside off the fight promotion.

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#3 · June 21, 2023, 12:08 pm

Quote from Jack on June 21, 2023, 10:08 am
McGregor had amazing skills, but also a big part of his success was him shit talking like a mad man. A lot of people outside of MMA got to know him through that.
A more strategical player would’ve toned it down outside off the fight promotion.

Yes, true.

If you look at it from a point of view of maximizing money and spiking attention/fanbase (at the price of disappointing most of them, though), then it was a good approach.

If you look at it in terms of legacy, personal reputation, or "standings in the sport", then a poor approach.

As for chances of winning, that depends on the opponent and the sport.
But generally speaking with strong and mentally strong opponent, the "enemy approach" only emboldens them to train harder, prepare harder, and do more than their very best.

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#4 · June 24, 2023, 7:01 pm

Thank you, very true.

This also applies to Putin: see the recent rebellion development. Now he’s enemy with the West, Ukraine and Wagner group.

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#5 · June 25, 2023, 10:48 am

Quote from John Freeman on June 24, 2023, 7:01 pm
Thank you, very true.
This also applies to Putin: see the recent rebellion development. Now he’s enemy with the West, Ukraine and Wagner group.

Yep, absolutely.

Great success can be the greatest enemy of the ambitious man (especially the dark triad type).

Power and success go to his head, he thinks he can dominate and barge his way with everyone... Until he finds out nobody can beat the whole world (or fate, age, time, etc. etc.).
Looking at history, quite common, actually.

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