Go for Chess Not Checkers When Running a Business
JOHN BRUBAKER
Performance Consultant, Speaker & Award-Winning Author
SEPTEMBER 24, 2014
Recently Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports claimed Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski was using his position as head coach of Team USA to gain an unfair recruiting advantage. The assertion is that as Coach K travels while running Team USA youth camps, he consistently gains contact with the country’s best players before the NCAA grants such access to his coaching competitors.
We don’t know if Krzyzewski is coaching Team USA for selfish reasons. The only person who knows is Coach K.
Let’s assume he’s doing it for that calculated reason. Doesn’t everyone want that same advantage in business?
Related: What Athletics Can Teach About the Characteristics of Great Leaders
One of my favorite Denzel Washington lines is uttered by his rogue detective character in the movie Training Day who tells his new protégé in effect, “This is chess not checkers.” He means that the job is way more complicated than it seems, a fast, dynamic process with lots of moving parts. Sounds a lot like entrepreneurship, doesn’t it?
Whether it’s detective work, coaching or entrepreneurship, the best people are playing chess while the rest are playing checkers. They can see the big picture and adeptly anticipate several moves in advance. They exhibit the difference between being proactive and reactive. If there ever were a basketball coach who plays chess while his competitors play checkers, it’s Coach K.
Run a business the same way. Imagine gaining unfettered early access to prospects before the competition. It’s possible. Just adopt what I call the coach approach to new business development.
More here.
He’s smart.