For whoever has will be given more, and will have more than enough; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken away.
This makes the abundant more abundant, the scarce more scarce, the strong stronger, the weak weaker, the rich richer, and the poor poorer — this is the Matthew Effect. It is like a horizontal hourglass: once one end is slightly disturbed by a faint external force, this fragile balance is broken, and the sand in the hourglass flows toward the slightly heavier end. If there is no intervention, the hourglass will tilt faster and faster, and the balance will be completely broken.
Think about it: the Matthew Effect makes the good better, the abundant more abundant, the strong stronger, the rich richer. We all pay attention to it — things get better, more abundant, stronger, richer. But what is the precondition for this outcome? A little retrospection shows it is precisely being good, abundant, strong, and rich. 'Better' is only the result of being good; being good is the premise for becoming better. Consider this: before the Matthew Effect takes effect, haven't those who are about to gain more from the imbalance already acquired, in some way, these precondition qualities of being good, abundant, strong, and rich? And before we voice complaints about unfairness and lament the imbalance, couldn't we also, using the very principle behind it, actively study how to make ourselves become the good side, the abundant side, the strong side, the rich side — starting from some point of origin?
The Matthew Effect existed in the past, exists now, and will continue to exist in the future; the result of this round of the Matthew Effect becomes the premise for the next one. We cannot remain on the disadvantaged side forever. Actively improving our situation within our means and making good use of the principle behind the Matthew Effect is key to both personal growth and business development. How to do it — three steps: cut, switch, fill.
Step 1: Decide means exploring and analyzing your own talents and preferences to develop new strengths. You can use Collins’ Three Circles to find the direction of your future development, use 4P4C to find a balance between what the outside world needs and what you are capable of, and use the Circle of Competence to clarify what you can and cannot do, and to what extent. In short, you need to identify your starting advantages: something you do better than others, have more of than others, are stronger in than others, or are richer in than others. Of course, “rich” here does not refer only to financial wealth; it also refers to the richness of your inner experiences and spiritual abundance.
Step 2: Cut means leaving the arena in which your original weaknesses put you at a disadvantage, opening up a new track based on your new strengths, and becoming a beneficiary of the widening effect under the new rules. You can use the long-tail effect to recombine your new strengths, use Porter’s Five Forces to identify more potential competitors and maintain your competitive advantage, and use the moat theory to build your own competitive barriers. It is important to note that the Matthew effect within a theory does not involve variables outside that theory; in reality, new tracks are also full of change. If you want to remain a beneficiary of the Matthew effect, you cannot overlook change.
Step 3: Supplement means using the experience gained from your strengths to supplement and inspire yourself in areas you were previously not good at. When you receive benefits from the Matthew effect under a certain set of rules, you can feed them back into your original weaknesses, similar to the SOLO taxonomy assessment theory, raising your cognition to the level of abstract extension. We can also use the Osborn Checklist to guide ourselves in asking inspiring questions and break through implementation bottlenecks.
Overall, we can try to leverage the underlying principles to turn this widespread phenomenon into widely shared wealth. If we succeed, I believe the benefits it brings back to us will be immeasurable.