The Game of Business –
Know the rules and play to win
Your favourite team has just come back onto the field after half time. All you feel is dread. They look tired and downcast, their communication is poor and they are just all over the place. Their opponents, on the other hand, look excited and energised; they are smiling yet incredibly focused. What is the difference? The opponents are playing to win as a team and are having fun in doing so.
Being in business is just like a sports game. When you and your team are focused and clear on what you need to do, anything is possible. While you may lose a match, there is always the bigger championship at play. In my book, The Laws of Extreme Business Success, I explore the similarity between business and sport in the Law of Business as a Game through three key elements.
The first element is having a winner’s mentality. This means that you are confident about your ability to succeed and are motivated to push that little bit further every day. So often I see tired and de-motivated business owners judging their ability on past failures. It is tough to keep going when the odds are against you, yet doesn’t that make the taste of victory all the more sweet? Playing to win requires ambition and the ability to maintain a positive mind-set of dogged determination and the excitement you feel when collecting all that rent on the Monopoly board.
You also have to recognise that a game has rules. This second element means that you and your team must know and understand the rules of the game you are playing, and then play by those rules. In business these rules may be statutory legislation, industry regulation, your internal policies, or even the unspoken rules on ‘the way business is done’ in your industry. In sport, breaking the rules gets you kicked off the field. In business, the same is true although it may take longer for the consequences to be revealed.
This does not mean you have to accept ‘the rules’ as they are. In the Oscar award-winning movie Moneyball, we see the analogy that sometimes we have to understand the rules of business to know how to change the game. Brad Pitt’s character, Billy Beane, finds a way to innovate the way his game is played in the face of big player competition that makes it seem almost impossible to win. Perhaps in your industry you can apply innovation to transform the way business is done, and in so doing, create a unique competitive advantage in your market. As in the case of Billy Beane, perhaps that inspiration comes from one of your own players. Playing the game of business requires being open to the ideas of those who play with you.
The third element of this law is to enjoy the game. Having fun brings you and your team into an entirely different energy. It activates your creative potential as a team and solves problems in new and unique ways. Instead of dragging yourself through the stresses and strains of entrepreneurship, having fun makes it a pleasure. While in business it is impossible to have fun all the time, it is imperative that you be able to shift yourself out of that heavy and serious space business owners so often find themselves in.
Neil Bromehead is a Sirdar associate and co-owner of Think in Code, a web and social media consultancy. Neil is also a professional viral game developer who has spent years learning the rules of the game: “Gamers play not to just win a level or the game itself. It is more than that. Winning means to continuously improve your skills and resources to play the game even better – a continuum rather than an end goal. Playing a game lets you take on a persona, and from that perspective, engage with your world from a more objective point of view and seeing the bigger issues at play.”
In business this is very often the exact challenge business owners face – not seeing themselves as playing roles in a game. When you lose perspective, you lose your ability to see just what it takes to achieve extreme business success. One of the best ways to shift this perspective is by having a board of directors that implements effective governance in your business. Having the objective perspective of independent directors, applying the rules of the game used by large and successful companies, is a powerful way to shift your focus from being ‘in your business’, immersed and stuck in the detail, to working ‘on your business’ and having an objective and strategic perspective.
With that bird’s eye view you can then really get to grips with the game you are playing and learn how to play it extremely well. Perhaps you may even find a way to change the game altogether. In the words of Billy Beane: “If we pull this off, we change the game. We change the game for good.”
Sirdar
www.sirdargroup.com
carlbates@sirdargroup.com
+27 21 418 0752
By Carl Bates
Being in business is just like a sports game. When you and your team are focused and clear on what you need to do, anything is possible. While you may lose a match, there is always the bigger championship at play. In my book, The Laws of Extreme Business Success, I explore the similarity between business and sport in the Law of Business as a Game through three key elements.
The first element is having a winner’s mentality. This means that you are confident about your ability to succeed and are motivated to push that little bit further every day. So often I see tired and de-motivated business owners judging their ability on past failures. It is tough to keep going when the odds are against you, yet doesn’t that make the taste of victory all the more sweet? Playing to win requires ambition and the ability to maintain a positive mind-set of dogged determination and the excitement you feel when collecting all that rent on the Monopoly board.
You also have to recognise that a game has rules. This second element means that you and your team must know and understand the rules of the game you are playing, and then play by those rules. In business these rules may be statutory legislation, industry regulation, your internal policies, or even the unspoken rules on ‘the way business is done’ in your industry. In sport, breaking the rules gets you kicked off the field. In business, the same is true although it may take longer for the consequences to be revealed.
This does not mean you have to accept ‘the rules’ as they are. In the Oscar award-winning movie Moneyball, we see the analogy that sometimes we have to understand the rules of business to know how to change the game. Brad Pitt’s character, Billy Beane, finds a way to innovate the way his game is played in the face of big player competition that makes it seem almost impossible to win. Perhaps in your industry you can apply innovation to transform the way business is done, and in so doing, create a unique competitive advantage in your market. As in the case of Billy Beane, perhaps that inspiration comes from one of your own players. Playing the game of business requires being open to the ideas of those who play with you.
The third element of this law is to enjoy the game. Having fun brings you and your team into an entirely different energy. It activates your creative potential as a team and solves problems in new and unique ways. Instead of dragging yourself through the stresses and strains of entrepreneurship, having fun makes it a pleasure. While in business it is impossible to have fun all the time, it is imperative that you be able to shift yourself out of that heavy and serious space business owners so often find themselves in.
Neil Bromehead is a Sirdar associate and co-owner of Think in Code, a web and social media consultancy. Neil is also a professional viral game developer who has spent years learning the rules of the game: “Gamers play not to just win a level or the game itself. It is more than that. Winning means to continuously improve your skills and resources to play the game even better – a continuum rather than an end goal. Playing a game lets you take on a persona, and from that perspective, engage with your world from a more objective point of view and seeing the bigger issues at play.”
In business this is very often the exact challenge business owners face – not seeing themselves as playing roles in a game. When you lose perspective, you lose your ability to see just what it takes to achieve extreme business success. One of the best ways to shift this perspective is by having a board of directors that implements effective governance in your business. Having the objective perspective of independent directors, applying the rules of the game used by large and successful companies, is a powerful way to shift your focus from being ‘in your business’, immersed and stuck in the detail, to working ‘on your business’ and having an objective and strategic perspective.
With that bird’s eye view you can then really get to grips with the game you are playing and learn how to play it extremely well. Perhaps you may even find a way to change the game altogether. In the words of Billy Beane: “If we pull this off, we change the game. We change the game for good.”
Sirdar
www.sirdargroup.com
carlbates@sirdargroup.com
+27 21 418 0752
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