Everyday Leadership Series (5) -Leadership Lessons from the game of Chess

Few years back, I accepted a personal challenge; learn how to play chess well. I learnt more effectively by doing so, as expected, after almost hundreds of matches, my skill level increased dramatically. Not as expected, were the leadership reflections that I experienced while learning the game. Below are 5 lessons I learned about leadership by playing chess.

1. Take care of your pawns.

Pawns are the least powerful chess piece, so inexperienced players rarely take extra steps to protect them. This is a strategic mistake. Pawns have a very important role. They control the board, provide fortification of the King (castle), and most importantly, a well-positioned pawn promoted to Queen will often secure the win. While contemplating strategy, it is easy to presume the pawn is expendable. In actuality, these seemingly transactional pieces provide the infrastructure that allows the more powerful pieces to maneuver.

As a leader, it is important you remember that every member of your team plays an important role. When leaders talk about efficiencies and simplifications which lead to cost out opportunities, it is easy to accept the fallacy that non-essential roles are unimportant. AP clerks, billing analysts, and payroll processors facilitate critical processes in your organization’s overall strategy. Envision the impact of furloughing half of your clerical workers for one month. The void created by their absence could cripple your business.  Invoices would not get processed and employees would not get paid. Your divisional CFO could take an extended vacation and not impact your business so drastically. Protect your pawns!

2. Do not reveal your queen too early.

It is a well-known rule of the game to not expose the queen too early. A queen without the appropriate underlying support becomes a liability. Your opponent will attack your queen in an attempt to take control of the board. Even as the King’s most powerful ally, the queen requires continual support to maximize its value. 

In business, teams have one or possibility two top performers. Leaders will entrust those individuals with the most complex missions. Unfortunately, leaders often fail to provide the necessary support to ensure their success.  Without support, your top performers can very easily become your greatest liabilities or worse yet, be “captured” by your competition. Support your queens!

3. Never (ever) quit the game. Either win or learn.

Before I made the commitment to become a better chess player I promised myself that I would never quit a game before a checkmate. I strongly believe in learning through failure. Even with a loss, there are learnings to be harvested by simply completing the game. In most chess matches, a win (or a loss) is determined by one mistake. Over these past two years, I turned countless seemingly lost matches into wins by exploring my opponent’s mistakes and sticking it out until the end.

Grit is a strong predictor of success. Resiliency through adversity is a characteristic that great leaders must possess and, equally importantly, cultivate within their teams. As mistakes are made and difficulties arise, great leaders will find a way to harvest learnings from every situation. Winston Churchill is often attributed as saying “Success is nothing more than the ability to go from one failure to the next without the loss of enthusiasm”.  Never quit the game!

4. Respect your opponent.

There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance.  My most painful losses came at the hand of a lower ranked competitor.  I learned very quickly to never underestimate my opponent and give my best effort every match, no matter how easy the contest appeared.

“Greatness demands intentionality!” – Dr. Kendra O’Neal. Leaders need to be the best possible version of themselves, consistently.  Leading a team is difficult and requires stamina. Every day is another opportunity to excel.  Intentionally and consistently align every team interaction with purpose. Practice successful habits that allow you to be the leader your team deserves. Always bring your “A” Game!

5. Practice to be better, not perfect.

The goal at the beginning of my journey was to be an above average player in fewer than 6 months. Unfortunately, reaching that level took me two years. Being highly competitive, I hold myself to an extraordinary standard with regards to performance. I consider myself a fast learner, but chess proved a greater challenge than expected. I persevered because I consistently focused on seemingly insignificant improvements.

As a leader, it is important to give your team and yourself time to grow. Everyone learns differently.  Leaders need to be patient and appreciate the compounding effect of continuous improvement.  To propel your team’s ability to improve and grow, create a winning culture that expresses a sense of accomplishment and confidence. Lead the team on a fulfilling journey of achievement by acknowledging consistent determination and celebrating small wins.   Focus on continuous improvement!

In summary, astute leaders can extract leadership lessons from every aspect of life, specially while playing the Game of Kings.

Few Leadership Tips-

Tip 1: Study your opponent's moves: Instead of solely concentrating on your own strategy, I encourage players to study their opponent's moves at all times and question why those particular moves were made and how they threaten your own strategy. Figuring out your opponent's strategies as early on as possible gives you the widest berth for success with your own strategy.

The lesson for leaders: Don't be so focused on your own strategy that you lose sight of those other issues and individuals who may get in the way of successful implementation of your plan. An awareness of those factors that could adversely impact your own strategy is crucial for successful execution.

Tip 2:  Make the best possible moves: Always view all pieces on the board when considering your move, and always question whether the piece you are moving is the best one to move in terms of how effective such a move will be in thwarting threats from your opponent as well as putting you in the most advantageous position.

The lesson for leaders: Focusing on individuals or specific issues can be problematic if those individuals or issues are not the most crucial ones to attend to at the time but rather are just the ones that caught your attention. Always question whether your attention is being drawn to what is most important for your strategy or what you just happen to think is most important.

Tip 3: Always have a plan several moves ahead. A strategy based on one move at a time is bound to fail. The best strategies involve multiple moves and projected outcomes. One piece by itself may not have much power, but as an integral part of a chain of moves can be as crucial as a power piece. Always look for what the play will be three to four moves from now, not just after your turn.

The lesson for leaders: The lesson here is obvious--thinking short-term is not a viable strategy. You can address issues on a turn-by-turn basis but that will not help with any sort of solid growth in the long term. Leaders need to think about what will be happening three-four years from now, not just after the next week or month.

Tip 4: Know what your pieces are worth: Inevitably, you will be put in a situation where you have to give up some of your pieces in return for your opponents. Always be mindful of the value of the pieces you are giving up and the ones you are taking from your opponent. Depending on how many pieces are left on the board, inherent values are not always so clear. A knight is worth more than a pawn, but is a knight worth more than three pawns when those are the last three on the board? It can get pretty tricky.

The lesson for leaders: Leaders will always have times when they have to compromise or yield in order to gain something else. However, it is not always clear -- especially immediately -- if what is sacrificed is worth what is gained. Leaders need to carefully assess the values of their trades to ensure that in the long-term, these actions lead to their advantage.

Tip 5: Develop your pieces quickly and well: Time is crucial in chess and it is particularly important that each piece be brought to its own position of greatest advantage and efficacy. This means quickly moving the different pieces about on the board so that they occupy prime positions based on how they move and where they can move. The player who sets up and develops his pieces' position most efficiently takes control of the game.

Lesson for leaders: Just like pieces, there are those whom you lead. Each of the people you lead has particular strengths and weaknesses and the point is always to quickly move them into roles where they maximize their skills and are best defended from their own weaknesses. Letting someone remain in a disadvantaged position for an excessive period of time not only denies them (and the organization) the benefit of their strengths and skills but also makes it more likely that they'll be inefficient and quickly removed.

Thanks for reading my blog.

Are you Leading?

Dr. Deepak A. Patil

CEO, Lead ThySelf