Winston Churchill: Losing the 1945 elections

The British had just defeated the Nazis a few months back. Winston Churchill was a hero and his approval ratings were 83%! Yet in July of 1945 he received an unimaginable shock: he and his conservative party lost the general elections!

How can someone who won World War 2 and who enjoys extremely high approval ratings not win enough votes?

Churchill’s conservative party ran on: “Help him finish the job.”

The Japanese had still not surrendered. So their entire campaign was focused on the war. On the other hand, the opposing party was running on: “Labour for prosperity.”

They focused on the future. They had created a whole manifesto and aptly named it: Let us face the future. They focused on what is needed for after the war. They promised jobs to returning soldiers, economic planning, national health services, and social security. They promised prosperity for the future. 

This was powerful, especially for people who had to live under rations because of the war.

The labour party’s manifesto was so popular that for the first time, there were queues full of people who wanted to buy it. Imagine people lining up to buy a government paper! Over 1.5 million copies of the manifesto were sold! 

People considered the world war to be all but over.

And what do people do when they achieve their goals? Do they remain content? Ha! 

Human nature is such that we are never truly happy when we reach our goals. We are driven by divine discontent. When one wish is met, we dream of more. Our baseline resets and our wants become bigger.

Halo vs hope

Past successes help make a great reputation. It can earn us accolades and gratitude. But it is not enough to close the deal.

Defending yesterday’s win is a losing game. Because problems decay over time. You have to give people new hope. Promise a new future.

Sticking to the past and not changing paths is a deathstroke. That’s why incumbents lose so often, in politics as well as startups.

Day 2 is stasis.

Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos, in his very first letter to shareholders, wrote about his mindset. How everyday needs to be day 1 at amazon.com. Obsess over customers and innovate.

Because day 2 is stasis. Day 2 is death. When you stop innovating and rest on your past wins, you die.

Your 5 year goals need to change every 2 years.

The future is uncertain. Today’s solutions change the future. You’ve got to observe: what problems will arise because of today’s solution? And innovate to solve for those future problems.

That’s why, even though technically the Japanese had not surrendered and the world war had not ended, it didn’t make sense to stick with “ending the war” as your main campaign promise. You have to venture one step beyond.

Thats precisely what the labour party did. They promised “a land fit for heroes.” Because of which, they won a staggering 393 seats out of a total of 590! They won 239 more seats than they had in the previous elections held before the war!

And they beat the person who helped Britain win the war!

Action Summary:

• Don’t stick with your past wins. Celebrate quickly and move forward. Plan to make your own wins obsolete.