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WINNERS and losers have a simple difference: Confidence, according to Rosabeth Moss Kanter's book by the same title, published by Crown Business (www. crownbusiness.com). People can avoid the destructive patterns of losing streaks and get onto winning paths, says Kanter positively. "Confidence is the bridge connecting expectations and performance, investment and results," is a simple definition of a familiar word, oft used but little understood.

What is the role of confidence? It helps us take control of situation without being overrun by it. It consists of "positive expectations for favourable outcomes" and makes one willing to invest "money, time, reputation, emotional energy and so on" into performance. As you keep winning, confidence grows, and vice versa. When there is no confidence, it is "hard to stop losing". Remember that confidence is not irrational exuberance, arrogance, delusional optimism and assumption of invulnerability.

Kanter explains that failure and success are not episodes, but trajectories. "They are tendencies, directions, pathways."

These become `self-fuelling cycles' — be they propelling to growth or decline. "It is sometimes hard to disentangle cause and effect," when previous wins generate zeal to perform, and earlier losses succeed in demotivating.

Winning is more than bagging the prize. It makes you feel good. "Success makes it easier to view events in a positive light, to generate optimism. It produces energy and promotes morale."

Also, it becomes easier to trust the team and the system, and more important, winning attracts financial resources.

"Winning is contagious," points out Kanter. "Emotional contagion has been confirmed in scientific measurement of the moods of English professional cricket teams during matches." Mood in the Indian camp has been contagiously despondent, these days.

Winning streaks end when winners make mistakes and slip off. "Sometimes it takes a loss to get you motivated again. It humbles you down to reality." However, the problem begins when confidence turns into complacency, and discipline withers away; "they undervalue their support systems, their obligations to others, and they overestimate their own abilities."

The book analyses losing streaks too. "Every unhappy organisation is unhappy in its own way," writes Kanter, paraphrasing Tolstoy. "Losing teams, distressed organisations, declining empires, and even depressed people often run downhill at an accelerating pace... Unchecked cycles of decline can easily turn into death spirals."

To make things worse, and impossible of correction, such organisations are characterised by a culture of "secrecy, blame, isolation, avoidance, lack of respect, and feelings of helplessness." The `loser' label is a tough overhead. Once slapped, it makes it difficult to get support or new opportunity. Losers are "targeted, pressured, distracted, punished, second-guessed, shunned, marginalised, ruled against, starved, or tempted to cut corners."

Turnaround is a challenge that the book prepares you to face. "Turnarounds are not for the impatient or the faint of heart," please note. "The art of turnaround leadership is knowing how to shed deadwood without killing the tree, to dig down to find root causes and make systemic changes, and to help the tree blossom."

There can be `false negatives' when actions taken with a long-term perspective seem to increase near-term losses. On the contrary, `false positives' are early signs of recovery; these can "bring so much relief that effort decreases."

Have Confidence.

ManageMentor@TheHindu.co.in

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