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VATupdate Newsletter Week 29 2024

Winning

“If you win, you have lots of friends.” Those are the lyrics of a song by the Dutch band Doe Maar, and they perfectly describe a common observation: success often attracts attention and admiration. However, winning and success do not always go hand-in-hand.

I enjoy playing tennis. Though I’m not exceptionally good at it and certainly not as fast, agile, or flexible as I was 25 (or 35) years ago, I still find joy in the game. I have a great time as long as I don’t hit too many balls into the net and manage to score an ace or two. Sometimes, my serve can still be quite effective.

Of course, we play to win. But there’s also great satisfaction in a long rally, and even if you eventually lose the point, it’s rewarding to acknowledge a ‘great shot’ from your opponent. This is called ‘enjoying the game’ and, at times, simply fair play.

Some people believe that winning is everything. But there’s a difference between winning because you’re better and winning because your opponent is weaker. It’s often clear when one player or team is superior, but that doesn’t mean the opponent is bad. Both teams or players are supposed to be doing their best, striving to win. The Olympic motto is “faster, higher, stronger,” not “fastest, highest, strongest.” Sometimes, the effort is what truly counts. Even in defeat, you gain experience, knowledge, stamina, and hopefully, you also have fun.

In some areas, however, competition has become less about improvement and enjoyment, and more about crushing the opponent to seem superior. In my view, these so-called ‘winners’ are the real losers.

Being good at something and striving to be the best is commendable. But consider the famous image of a leader who whips the mules pulling a cart versus the leader who helps them drag the cart to the top. Who’s the real burden then?

At VATupdate, we believe in teamwork. We don’t claim to be the best VAT experts in the world, but we strive to improve every day and learn more. We share all VAT news with you, so you can learn and grow with us.

If you have any comments, questions, or ideas that you want to share with us, please send us an email at [email protected] or leave a comment under the posts of this newsletter on LinkedIn.


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