“Playing to win” is one of the most used sporting metaphors in business. Leaders, teams, and organisations all want to feel like they’re winning. They want to outpace competitors, achieve breakthroughs, and secure results that matter.
But if we’re honest, how often are we truly playing to win, versus simply trying not to lose? Protecting what we have (market share, reputation, predictable revenue) is a natural instinct. Yet that instinct can quietly limit how far we go. The same tension plays out for individuals: leaders want to make their mark, but not be remembered for taking a catastrophic risk. Ambitious people want to step up, but not jeopardise their standing.
We think that managing this balance between purpose and safety is one of the key facets of modern leadership.
Purpose drives bold action
As we’ve discussed before on this blog, the best leaders (and organisations) are fuelled by a clear purpose. A ‘why’ that ignites passion and energy to achieve what seems impossible. They make bold declarations of their vision and invite their teams to commit to it fully.
That doesn’t mean acting recklessly or ignoring risk. It means learning to balance natural instincts for preservation with the drive to create something new. In leadership terms, these aren’t opposites to be solved, but a polarities to be managed. An ongoing tension that requires awareness and adaptability.
Just as complex systems demand that leaders hold seemingly competing needs (direction and autonomy, structure and flexibility, innovation and control) so too does purposeful leadership. Playing to win requires leaders to move fluidly between these poles, using purpose to energise ambition while ensuring that safety provides focus and discipline.
Purpose gives direction; safety gives stability. The art of leadership lies in holding both without letting fear of loss mute ambition. So how can leaders show up as more purpose-driven? And how can they manage the pull of safety without letting it cap potential?
Reinvent the game
Playing to win begins with a bold definition of success that moves beyond incremental improvement. True breakthroughs happen when leaders inhabit a future that looks radically different from “more of the same.” It’s the business equivalent of picking up the ball and running with it (in other words daring to rewrite the rules).
This doesn’t mean ignoring safety or control constraints. It means leaning into them. To succeed, leaders need to examine the fears and assumptions that quietly restrict thinking. Think of these as the inherited rules, habits, and ways of working that limit innovation.
When leaders shift from problem fixing/avoidance and start leading to create possibilities, new space for performance opens up.
What’s at stake?
To commit fully, leaders need to put something at stake and be clear what that is. When you declare a bold future, that vision becomes what’s on the line. Whether it’s achieved or not becomes the test of your commitment. If, instead, what’s at stake is your reputation, your comfort zone, or last year’s performance, then you’re playing not to lose.
Leaders who expose outdated safety assumptions (and show that many “risks” are simply habits of protection) unlock freedom across their teams. This includes the freedom to innovate and to challenge, and to even fail and learn.
When the shared stake is a future everyone cares about, teams collaborate more openly and create new solutions. Success isn’t always guaranteed of course, but progress becomes inevitable.
When safety becomes the risk
Playing not to lose feels comfortable until it isn’t. Doing what’s familiar or “safe” can quietly become the most dangerous move of all.
When teams are focused on their own preservation instead of their purpose, it should be no surprise that energy and creativity is low. Or that leadership feels like firefighting. Over time, people burn out from protecting what’s already been achieved rather than pursuing what could be next. Going all out to win takes courage, but in volatile environments, purpose-led leadership builds energy, agility, and resilience.
Leaders who put purpose at the centre create cultures where ambition and safety coexist, and where people are inspired to change the game, not just play within it.
If you’re looking to explore how purpose-led leadership can help your organisation move beyond playing it safe get in touch.