Games Successful people play
Disclaimer:- Don't follow me; for I might be even lost. But I have a point....
Golden collection from my Archives ............
Successful games players are thick on the ground in the upper echelons of business, and often like to hire people with similar aptitudes. Bridge players are used to always being dealt a new hand. Backgammon's even better. You start from the same position, but the dice requires you to play differently each time. Bridge is an excellent background for any fast moving business. In Bridge, you never face the same problem twice. Kim Woo-Choong, Chairman of Daewoo group says, " I found that this has improved my capabilities to assess changes in the business climate, says Kim, " There is a tremendous amount of risk-taking involved in each move - if you make the wrong move, your opponent captures your stones. So the more you play the game, the more expert you become in taking calculated risks.". Most businessman/games players say - excellence in playing games of skill is a reasonably accurate predictor of success - perhaps more accurate than a Harvard MBA.
Whether the game is poker, gin, rummy, bridge, backgammon or chess, at the top levels of play the skills rewarded are all vitally important in business.
Among them are DISCIPLINE, MEMORY, COOLNESS, UNDER PRESSURE, PSYCHOLOGICAL, INSIGHTFULNESS, A READINESS TO STICK TO A STRATEGY EVEN WHEN IT PRODUCES LOSING STREAKS IN THE SHORT RUN, AND RAPID AND INTUITIVE CALCULATION OF PROBABILITIES - OF SPOTTING OPPORTUNITIES AND BALANCING RISKS AGAINST REWARDS.
Bridge - Each game helps from specific strengths. Backgammon and Blackjack teach how to play the odds; poker teaches bluffing and other psychological skills; bridge, with its constant table chatter , adds social skills that can prove useful in financial world's clubby atmosphere. Chess? Becker is of two minds on chess. He says it emphasises analytical ability, but at the expense of social skills.
" In Chess, you learn to plan variations of play to make a decision tree", says Weinstein. " One thing I find myself better in than most people is developing a strategy and implementing it. I will say, " If he does this, we will do that, whereas many very, very bright people will talk in generalities."
Weinstein now thinks that this kind of analytical thinking is fostered even more by other games he has mastered.
Hull says the most important part of of his blackjack experience was learning how to manage his capital through losing streaks - clearly an important discipline in trading. Hull: "When I think of my blackjack experience, and teh many ups and downs, and losing the bank on occasions and emotionally weathering the storms over the years, I think it trained me to have emotional stability."
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