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EP 73 - From Board Games to the Boardroom
6 Plays2 days ago
What are some of the lessons we can take from board games into our professional lives?
For more info & to download a free PDF of today's episode notes, visit: http://www.chriskreuter.com/CDWI
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Transcript
Overcoming Challenges with Frameworks
00:00:08
Speaker
On Chris Deals With It, I talk about the frameworks and methods I use to clear personal, creative, and professional roadblocks. My goal is to help others bridge the gap between where they're at now and what they want to achieve.
00:00:20
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If you're new to the show, I'm an engineer, writer, parent, game designer, leader, and reader who leverages that experience to develop creative solutions to problems. An AI statement that all elements of this episode are products of the author, Chris Kreuter, and made without the use of any AI tools.
Episode Introduction: Lessons from Board Games
00:00:38
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Welcome to episode 73 of Chris Deals With It, From Board Games to the Boardroom. What are some of the lessons we can take from board games into our professional lives? Over the past 25 years, I've played board games pretty seriously.
00:00:51
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I've also designed, playtested, and published them as co-founder of Masquerade Games. I'm deep in preparation for a multi-part series talking about the creative process, and as part of that, I've been distilling my thoughts on games and the many skills that they teach and develop.
Skills from Board Games for Children
00:01:06
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Now as a parent, I'm seeing board games empower my kids' learning of social interaction, conflict resolution, adjusting to and following different rule sets, storytelling, strategy and tactics, reading, math, logical reasoning, planning, cause and effect, exploring different worlds, mindsets, and perspectives, and they also enable cross-generational conversations about what things were like and what I enjoyed when I was a kid.
00:01:32
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On a personal level, playing and designing games has shaped my thinking and skills in many additional ways. They've improved my ability to quickly parse systems and processes, ah pattern recognition, it keeps my math and reasoning skills sharp, time and resource management, strategic planning, programming logic, graphic design and intuitive information flow, storytelling, distilling, contextualizing, and selling of complex ideas and systems to non-subject matter experts.
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They've broadened my network, friendships, experiences, and perspective, and way more.
Professional Takeaways from Board Games
00:02:06
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But on today's episode, I want to specifically explore some of the takeaways on how board games can help us in our professional lives.
00:02:14
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There's four of these that I've come up with for today. One, play the hands you're dealt. Two, time at the table is more important than reveling in your wins and losses. Three, think ahead. And four, it's not enough to understand a game, you need to understand how others are playing it.
00:02:29
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so let's start with the first one, playing the hands you're dealt.
Randomness and Uncontrollable Situations
00:02:32
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Games have varying degrees of randomness. Cards, dice, tile placement, spinners, bags of tokens, and player decisions. These random elements impact the choices that are available to you or the degree to which those different tactics might positively or negatively impact your overall strategy.
00:02:48
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At times in your professional life, you'll find yourself in situations that are out of your control, where you're dealt the equivalent of a bad hand. but you're still expected to play that hand to the best of your ability. But moaning bad situations doesn't help you make any progress.
00:03:02
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And you also want to learn from these situations so you can better position yourself to handle future bad deals or make their occurrence and impact more predictable. It's also a valuable skill to recognize what makes a hand or a situation less than ideal.
00:03:17
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It's going to require a deeper knowledge of the rules and experience with the game. Gaining domain knowledge is critical. This provides a strong understanding of all the options and variables that exist within the game.
00:03:29
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The degree to which those options impact your success in the game. Which elements of randomness have the greatest impact? Understanding the likely distribution of those options among all the players.
00:03:40
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Does this randomness affect all players equally? Or in game terms, is the game state asymmetrical or symmetrical? In what ways? So games can help us practice playing through these bad situations.
00:03:53
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How well and how fast are you able to pivot your strategy with what's now available to you? Are you able to position yourself differently or keep your current position stable, biding time until the game state improves?
00:04:05
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Or is it prudent to negotiate, to join forces with other players in similarly weak positions to counteract another player's strength? Three examples of real-world systems that mimic those in business.
00:04:17
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Currency exchanges. Many of the variables that impact these rates are out of our control, but they remain critical elements of managing supply chains and sales pricing. Legal requirements, laws, and regulations are complex and shift all the time.
00:04:31
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They also tend to be inconsistently enforced in various industries. The better you understand the rules governing the game you're playing, the better you're going to be able to work within them. Lastly, quality control.
00:04:42
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Results often vary when multiple people interact with a system or work on elements of a product. Same in a game with multiple random elements out of your control. and That's why it's important to properly analyze results and develop systems and employ tactics, Six Sigma is a popular example, that are going to help control the impact those variables have on your organization's performance.
Practice, Preparation, and Wins
00:05:04
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So let's get to the second insight, that time at the table is more important than reveling in your wins and losses. We get better at games and in business when we put in the work, preparing ourselves, watching reviews and tutorials, reading trade press, or having discussions with other like-minded players.
00:05:21
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Increasing our understanding of the systems and skills required of the game, its mechanics, our employers, competitors, and industry. Performing post-game analyses, both individually and as a group.
00:05:32
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What went right? What went wrong? How could prevented X from happening? Listen, winning is awesome. Victories, awards, promotions, congratulatory handshakes from your peers. It's a sign things have gone well.
00:05:43
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Repeated victories and winning key events are demonstrations of your skill and expertise. Analyses of these successes are also important. What strategies and tactics work that can utilize in future games or perhaps in different similar games?
00:05:58
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Leveraging those wins, we could potentially climb the ranks, playing for higher stakes, bigger rewards, and ultimately bigger paychecks. But you don't want to rest on your laurels. Talking about my runner-up plaque in Carcassonne of the 2013 World Board Gaming Championships isn't going to help me win my next game night with friends.
00:06:14
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or a WBC Championship if and when I ever get back for a future event. What would help is playing games of Carcassonne, studying it, and keeping my skills sharp. Similarly, there is a danger in becoming the person who feels like they've achieved success, developing a mindset that they know how to win, and they don't need to keep learning.
00:06:32
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and keep putting in the work. This mindset often leads to stagnation, the atrophy of their skills and abilities. It's important to continue to develop your skill set throughout your career. Understand that the rules of the game can still change, and likely will.
00:06:46
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New technologies like board game expansions can disrupt that status quo, enabling new strategies and change the effectiveness of tactics that worked previously. You can also work towards broadening skills across multiple domains.
00:06:59
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A broader vocabulary from other industries and games can help you gain deeper insights and skills for the one you're actively playing, potentially making unique connections and inventing new strategies that your competitors just can't see.
00:07:12
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Now, the laurels of victory aren't always important at all. They do provide acknowledgment that you've achieved success, and this is wonderful, but it's fleeting. Like any good financial advisor will warn you, past performance isn't a guarantee of future success.
00:07:25
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Few careers in industries are like tic-tac-toe, a solved game. Games where it's possible for you to understand all that needs to be known and develop a perfect system for never losing again. Sometimes laurels get rewarded by lucky chance, random elements that are out of any player's control, or seemingly so.
00:07:43
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And you're allowed to play a game simply for the love of playing it. There's no requirement that you must move up and play it at the highest levels. It's possible to have fun, learn a ton, and gain all the benefits I mentioned earlier by finishing in last place as you would by winning.
00:07:57
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What's important is playing the game with a positive spirit and an open mind. Listen, I don't play beer league hockey because I have dreams some scout's going to see me and sign me to an NHL contract. That's unachievable. I play simply because I love the game and all the good that comes of that.
00:08:12
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And you can check out episode 60 where I talk about that approach in more detail.
Strategic Foresight and Decision Making
00:08:15
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So insight number three, think ahead. Games, like markets, are strategic battlefields. To succeed consistently in many games, it's not enough to go around willy-nilly making hasty decisions in the moment.
00:08:27
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Although there are games and markets that are predicated on speed, where quick reactions, attemptiveness, and gaining a quick read on your opponents will lead to victory. In general, you achieve far more success by thinking ahead, developing proven strategies and employing them with keenly honed tactics.
00:08:43
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Even in the speedy games I just mentioned, thinking ahead can mean training skills like reaction time, honing your ability to concentrate, and improving your social deduction skills. Before making a decision, it's helpful to consider its potential impacts.
00:08:56
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Is this move legal and within the spirit of play? Am I creating a weakness in my position? Will this make me more susceptible to risks from elements out of my control? Might I inadvertently make other people's positions weaker or stronger with this play?
00:09:11
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Will this move have a positive or negative impact on alliances I forge with other players? And will these decisions make my future participation in the game a miserable or fun experience? How about for my opponents?
00:09:23
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You want to be wary of analysis paralysis. where you distract yourself with too much data, overanalyzing a single decision in an attempt to ensure perfection. This can both exhaust you and your opponents.
00:09:34
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And there's a risk that being too far into the weeds means you miss out on seeing the bigger picture or an immediate opportunity. You want to avoid overplaying your hand when you do have an advantage. The short-term gain might lead you with fewer resources to take advantage of bigger, windfall opportunities later, or some hiccup that comes up in your plans, or another opponent's clever play.
00:09:54
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Games are rarely won in the early turns. Likewise, avoid revealing your hand inadvertently to other players. You're giving them free information that can be used against you, and possibly ruining the experience for all involved.
00:10:06
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Yet there are times when strategic reveals can work to your advantage, or perhaps a bluff at the right time to put your opponent off balance, setting up a future where you can take better advantage of the situation.
Understanding Others in Success
00:10:17
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And the last insight for today, it's not enough to understand a game, you need to understand how others are playing it.
00:10:22
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The map is not the territory. Similarly, the boardroom is not the company, like the board is not the game. A game, like a company, exists between the players playing it. Keeping a keen eye on your opponents is the key to victory in many games.
00:10:36
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Tracking the resources and options available to them, understanding how your choices impact them. A lot of information can be gained through reading body language, facial expressions, and changes in their positions as events unfold.
00:10:50
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Evaluate their actual moves on the board. Are they changing their strategies and or their tactics? Making a desperate play? Could they be bluffing their strength or their weaknesses? Of course, the challenge lies in striking a balance between monitoring what they're doing and considering your own decisions.
00:11:06
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This is extremely prevalent in trading card games, or TCGs. And a quick side note, there's also a category called limited card games where the entire pool of cards exists in a defined package rather than collected through randomized packs, but they're both applicable to what i'm about to say.
00:11:20
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These style of games involve decks that are built out of a common pool of cards. Popular ones include Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Disney's Lorcanum, and there's many others.
Metagame and Business Strategy
00:11:31
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In these games, there typically exists an ever-evolving metagame.
00:11:34
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A metagame is defined as using real-world knowledge to gain an advantage in the playing of the game itself. Examples of this knowledge could include statistics, past results, deck lists and guides from experienced players you find online, and much more.
00:11:48
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The most powerful decks and strategies will rise and fall in popularity. In TCGs, new sets get released regularly, injecting new cards and options into the format, ensuring it consistently evolves.
00:11:59
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When one particular strategy works really well, it tends to become a template that many others follow. The metagame then reacts to this flood of copycats and strategies develop to counteract that strategy.
00:12:10
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In rare cases where this isn't possible, those in charge of the game have the ability to change rules, restrict particular cards, or in rare cases ban them entirely to ensure the continued success and competitive nature of the game.
00:12:23
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These types of reinforcement loops occur in businesses all the time as companies vie for competitive advantages and market share. Players of TCGs gain a lot of benefits and skill development from this type of metagame analysis.
00:12:37
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They analyze trends in the meta. For example, a metagame breakdown chart looks similar to an analysis of corporate market share. Players will hone strategies to maximize their success within the current metagame.
00:12:49
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You'll hear gamers discussing broken cards or those with low expected value. They'll debate the top tiers of deck strategies, especially leading into important events and doing post-event analyses.
00:13:01
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Players tend to have preferences for a style of deck, or meta-defining tactics that can sometimes feel a little like rock, paper, scissors. These are designed to work very fast, winning before their opponents have a chance to develop their own strategy to stop them.
00:13:14
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But they risk burning through resources too quickly, running out of steam, or finding themselves incapable of handling slower, more powerful cards that get out in time. There are mid-range decks.
00:13:25
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These act like Swiss Army knives, solid and versatile, reliable, consistent, and built to handle a wide range of opposing strategies while still advancing their own position. Control decks.
00:13:36
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These focus on stopping opponents of all kinds dead in their tracks, whittling away their resources with high value, carefully considered choices until they can take control of the game and win on their terms.
00:13:47
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And there are also combo decks. These embrace more randomness in the hopes of regularly combining multiple cards that will overwhelm any opponent with incredibly powerful effects. So to be successful, a player of any of these types needs to understand the metagame balance of the current format, ensuring they keep enough options in their decks to keep the dominant strategies at bay.
00:14:08
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Or make entirely different deck choices based on their perception of what the rest of the field will likely bring to an event. Likewise, companies and their employees can evaluate their tactics along similar lines.
00:14:20
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Does your firm work with speed, and moving as quickly and nimbly as possible to seize opportunities the moment they arise before any competitors develop the opportunity to react effectively? Or does the organization rely on stability, strong processes, and consistent performance to win at a steady but rarely flashy rate?
00:14:38
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Is it a risk-averse organization built upon a culture of control, ensuring success through well-honed processes and strict permissions? There are definitely environments, industries, and metagames that rely on control-heavy tactics to ensure all of our safety.
00:14:53
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Or is your organization cooking up something wild and crazy, rolling the dice with its resources and possibly investment capital on all-or-nothing experiments? Success means enormous, exciting results, but with what consistency?
00:15:07
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And don't forget about those fun homebrew decks, the ones that aren't popular by any means, that come out of left field, but they may still win the day by taking powerful companies by surprise with an innovative tactic or unexpected alternative strategies.
00:15:21
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They're often unique, under the radar, and they might win the day even though they took advantage of a unique opportunity or timing that's unlikely to be repeated in the future. So i'm going to bring today's episode home with a nice quote from the legendary investor Charlie Munger.
00:15:35
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It's good to learn from your mistakes. It's better to learn from other people's mistakes. And with that, have a great day.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:15:50
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If you feel that Chris dealt with it, I'd appreciate your support of the show by sharing it with someone who might benefit. Ratings on your favorite podcast player are also helpful in growing the audience. Visit chriscreuter.com for free downloadable PDFs with notes and resources from today's episode.
00:16:04
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Sign up for the CDWI mailing list or to send in your problems or requests for future shows. That's chriscreuter.com or use the link in the show notes.