Theory of Incremental Advantage

Being the First is An Advantage

Being the first to achieve a major accomplishment is often an incremental advantage. South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard won a great deal of fame for performing the first heart transplant in the world.

Physicians and trainers declared that it was physiologically impossible for a human being to run a mile in less than four minutes. Indeed, no person on earth did so…until Roger Bannister broke the four minute barrier in 1954.

Within one year, 37 other runners broke the four minute barrier. In the year after that, more than 300 runners ran a mile in less than four minutes. But, few of us can name any one of them.

Inches and Seconds are Critical

• In hockey, a ¼ inch change in the slope of a hockey stick can mean the difference between hitting the top corner of the net or the top corner of the Plexiglas.

• In baseball, one inch in the deviation of a pitch translates into 17 inches of deviation at the plate.

• In competitive swimming, swimmers “shave down” (by shaving all visible hair from the body right before a big meet) which usually takes about 2.5 seconds off of a 100 meter breaststroke.

• NASCAR driving legend Wayne DeLoriea said that, “One second in NASCAR racing is equal to a football field.”

• Lance Armstrong installed a hydration system on his bike, so he could “sip fluids without having to shift on the bike from the ideal aerodynamic position.” This hydration system is estimated to have saved him 10 seconds from a 24-mile time trial.

Every Second Counts

Even as far back as 1997, the difference between running 40 yards in 4.3 seconds and running it in 4.4 seconds—a 2% difference—was more than $1 million per year in salary for wide receivers in the National Football League.

Every advantage that an elite athlete can gain is significant. Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike, figured that for every ounce removed from the shoe’s weight, 200 cumulative pounds would be lifted from the runner during a one-mile race. He was one of the greatest track-and-field coaches in the U.S. He coached 24 National Collegiate Athletic Association individual champions, four NCAA team champions, 64 All-Americans and the 1972 Olympic team.