Every strength is also a weakness; every triumph engenders a loss. Risks include:
- overconfidence, blind reliance on one's trump suit ("They'll never attack here; we're too powerful!")
- narrowing of choice — focusing on the area where one leads, and ignoring other possibilities (putting all the eggs in a single basket.)
- bandwagon-riding (playing follow the leader)
- rear-view-mirror watching (fighting the last war)
- hubris — excessive pride from an initial victory based on sheer luck ("The worst thing that can happen to a new gambler is an early win.")
Strength leads to underestimation of both risk and the extent of one's ignorance.
Sunday, December 12, 1999 at 20:57:05 (EST) = 1999-12-12
(correlates: DoWithout, SomethingToSell, LimitingFactors, ...)