Recently I downloaded an app on my phone and started playing it and started drawing parallel to business. I thought there are many lessons we can learn from game of chess.
When building strategy for an organization at any level, a business, and its competition, can be viewed from an outside perspective like a game of chess. Business strategy flows much like strategy in a game of chess, where each piece has its purpose, distinct movement, and anyone can play.
What if a CEO were playing chess and the pieces started to move themselves uncontrollably? What if the competition could start adding new pieces that did not exist on the other side of the board? This is what happens in business, and this is how many organizations operate. In addition, this is how several businesses miss the path to adaptation, and take the fast track to extinction.
It also teaches how to take a step backwards, analyse the risks and prepare the mitigation plan. This is precisely how you start thinking when your opponent makes her/his move. You start thinking about potential threats and you make a move to counter that risk. This is exactly how business needs to run, constantly keep inventing the model.
There are some parallels between chess and business and following are few of them which I can think of,
1) Business warfare. Definitely true. Many companies act as predators and use many of the same tactics and strategies seen in chess. Killing the competition is always a favourite statement. In bid management we tend to build differentiators such that our business looks appealing.
2) Planning. With the acceleration of the business cycle and the abundance of information managers’ face, predicting future trends is becoming much harder to do. It may be more practical to think only one move ahead. This appears more accurate than thinking 20 moves in the wrong direction.
3) Time. In a war game like chess, each side is given resources, both material (army) and immaterial (time) in which to accomplish a strategic end. Of course, in business the playing field is not level and companies may enter a market with all types of advantages and disadvantages. However, managing time may be one of the most important factors in business success. Timing of market entry or withdrawal; timing of international expansion, timing of supply chain; timing of cash flows. In business, time is everything
4) Initiative. There is a classic connection since time is a major factor. However, what also matters is what you do with that time. A company cannot sit on its advantage as if time is unlimited. In chess, some schools of thought state that initiative may be more important than material. This means that the company on the initiative has the advantage of determining the direction of the market. There have been many cases where industry leaders have lost the edge because they failed to maintain the initiative. Some reacted too late to market changes and thus lost any advantage that they may have had. A few examples are: Ford, IBM, Microsoft, Kodak and of late, Yahoo!
When building strategy for an organization at any level, a business, and its competition, can be viewed from an outside perspective like a game of chess. Business strategy flows much like strategy in a game of chess, where each piece has its purpose, distinct movement, and anyone can play.
What if a CEO were playing chess and the pieces started to move themselves uncontrollably? What if the competition could start adding new pieces that did not exist on the other side of the board? This is what happens in business, and this is how many organizations operate. In addition, this is how several businesses miss the path to adaptation, and take the fast track to extinction.
It also teaches how to take a step backwards, analyse the risks and prepare the mitigation plan. This is precisely how you start thinking when your opponent makes her/his move. You start thinking about potential threats and you make a move to counter that risk. This is exactly how business needs to run, constantly keep inventing the model.
There are some parallels between chess and business and following are few of them which I can think of,
1) Business warfare. Definitely true. Many companies act as predators and use many of the same tactics and strategies seen in chess. Killing the competition is always a favourite statement. In bid management we tend to build differentiators such that our business looks appealing.
2) Planning. With the acceleration of the business cycle and the abundance of information managers’ face, predicting future trends is becoming much harder to do. It may be more practical to think only one move ahead. This appears more accurate than thinking 20 moves in the wrong direction.
3) Time. In a war game like chess, each side is given resources, both material (army) and immaterial (time) in which to accomplish a strategic end. Of course, in business the playing field is not level and companies may enter a market with all types of advantages and disadvantages. However, managing time may be one of the most important factors in business success. Timing of market entry or withdrawal; timing of international expansion, timing of supply chain; timing of cash flows. In business, time is everything
4) Initiative. There is a classic connection since time is a major factor. However, what also matters is what you do with that time. A company cannot sit on its advantage as if time is unlimited. In chess, some schools of thought state that initiative may be more important than material. This means that the company on the initiative has the advantage of determining the direction of the market. There have been many cases where industry leaders have lost the edge because they failed to maintain the initiative. Some reacted too late to market changes and thus lost any advantage that they may have had. A few examples are: Ford, IBM, Microsoft, Kodak and of late, Yahoo!
