In business, are you playing chess or checkers? I think we all need to be asking ourselves this question. Are we becoming reactionary to the environment and making moves hastily? That’s typically the mentality of a checkers player.
Or are you seeing the entire board and planning many moves in advance? Sometimes understanding the need to step back and defend. Knowing you might need to lose a piece or two in the short-term, but staying true to your overall strategy. That’s a chess mindset.
My hope is that leaders will step back and take more of a chess mindset. A mindset where you respond thoughtfully to pressure and see business as the ultimate game. This is a concept that we discuss in Diamond Goldfish, co-authored by Travis Carson and Tony Cooper. In the book we share,
“Now referring to business as ‘a game’ isn’t meant to downplay its importance or significance. It’s merely to put it into perspective. The game of business comes with real consequences of success and failure. Making mistakes is frustrating, failing to win a project can really sting, and getting fired (or laid off) could be devastating. But regardless of how those things make you feel, none of them will actually kill you. This is what we mean by calling it a game.”
Which game are you playing?
Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn.
Stan Phelps walks the walk. He stands out in the sea of sameness by modeling his own Differentiated Experience (DX) message: Differentiation isn’t just about what you say, it’s about what you do and, more importantly, how and why you do it. Stan leverages his unique collection of 5,000+ case studies on customer, employee, and brand experience to engage audiences with informative learning-based experiences. He believes purposeful DX wins the hearts of employees and customers, and differentiation ultimately boosts loyalty, retention, referrals, and results.
Find Stan’s in-person and virtual keynotes, workshops, and Goldfish tank programs at StanPhelps.com.