3 Chess Learnings Applied To Professional Life After 100,000 Games

Cross-training, a term primarily used for athletes, is a concept where the technique, balance, and physical gains you develop in one specific sport can help you break through plateaus in others. Surely the same concept applies to the mind.

I started chess at a young age. At the time, it was a fun way to both compete with friends as well as spend time bonding with my grandfather. Although I eventually took a 10-year break, I was able to shake off the rust and pick it back up again later in life. Now, I have played well over 100,000 chess games, and wanted to share the learnings I feel have had a positive impact on my career. Below are the lessons that I believe can drive success in a business setting.

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Be Consistently Precise

“Play the opening like a book, the middle game like a magician, and the endgame like a machine” - Spielmann

In chess, it is very important to think through the repercussions of every move. One of the most frustrating feelings in the game is to make 35 consecutive correct moves at the beginning and middle to set yourself up for an easy win, but then make one big blunder at the end to result in a quick loss. 

This translates directly into the importance of precision in customer facing roles. Time is extremely valuable these days, so every interaction you have with a customer is a precious opportunity to make sure you’re providing value and progressing their initiatives. An email takes a time commitment to read, a 30-minute video call an even longer commitment, and an on-site (when that used to happen) the longest. It is important to be sharp and precise to maximize the help you’re providing in the most effective way possible. 

Mistakes in a customer facing role are nearly always devastating. It takes months and at times years to build a relationship with a customer, gain trust, and have a track record of going above and beyond. It can take just one blunder to make that disappear overnight. Be precise in your emails, make sure each meeting is valuable, and aim for every on-site to result in measurable progress. We are all human, we are error prone– it’s on us to be aware of this fact and ensure we’re doing what we can to reduce the probability of errors happening.

Unlike chess – with customers there usually isn’t a “rematch” button. Be calculated, be precise, and you can increase your chance of a win.

Manage Your Time

“A bad plan is better than none at all” - Marshall

Modern chess is played with clocks, and one type of chess that is quickly gaining popularity is fast variations (speed chess) called “Rapid”, “Blitz”, or “Bullet” games. In this rising style of chess, managing the clock is a massively important part of whether you win or lose. Just as frustrating as blundering to lose a game, is when you’ve played the “perfect” game and are in a winning position, but run out of time. When this happens, unless your opponent has only their king left– it’s an instant loss for you. Knowing when you can spend some time thinking through your next move, and knowing when you need to react extremely quickly, is important to stay in the game.

In business, it’s the same concept. There are times when the best course of action is to send a very well written and documented email, explaining in depth either next steps, instructions, or reasoning for a specific decision. Yet, what I routinely see people struggle with, is the ability to do the opposite. Sending a simple “Ok, I see your issue, my team and I are looking into this” email can save a lot of stress for a customer. It is crucial to ease their mind and let them know ASAP that there is progress being made, even if a solution or answer isn’t immediately ready.

Developing and being able to use both tempos are invaluable to ensure you can use the correct amount of time in the correct circumstance. When a matter isn’t urgent, take your time. Do the research to ensure that the content you’re creating is meaningful and correct. Double check your data, results, reasoning, even spelling. This can show a high level of professionalism and that you respect the audiences’ time. When there is urgency, kick it into high gear. There are many quotes with variations on this, but when there is an urgent issue, a good decision acted on quickly is almost always better than indecision.

Respect All Perspectives

“That’s what Chess is all about. One day you give your opponent a lesson, the next day he gives you one” - Fischer 

It is important to have a plan and a strategy on the board, but it is also crucial to decipher your opponent’s motivations and understand what they are trying to accomplish with their moves. Not taking time to understand and respect the other perspective can leave you with an incomplete, and at times, incorrect assessment. In chess, this will result in many quick losses. 

In a professional setting- there are multiple ways in which this can determine a positive or negative outcome. For instance, when working with your team, not considering other perspectives or ideas can quickly lead to gaining a reputation of being stubborn or difficult to communicate with. In the long term this will break the feedback loop that is important for healthy positive iteration to happen, both personally as well as for the project itself. In a customer facing role, when there is a sense that it is no longer a conversation but instead the customer is being spoken to- it might be the last you’ll hear from them.

Take the time to listen, digest, and understand. This means you’re not simply nodding while working out in your head the next topic you’re leading the conversation towards (we’re all guilty of this at times). In today’s world – it is more important than ever to actively keep an open mind to other perspectives. Every person you meet has an experience you haven’t lived, a concept you hadn’t considered. Take it as an opportunity to put yourself in their shoes, and you might see things in a new light. Whether or not you see merit in an alternative perspective or consider it dubious is up to you, but that determination should arrive after you’ve given sufficient time to understanding it.

“Half the variations calculated in a tournament game turn out to be completely superfluous. Unfortunately, no one knows in advance which half” - Tinman 

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Chess is a very unforgiving game, there is no coin flip or die roll that can correct your blunders. Every game starts anew with level playing field, so you have no one to blame for your losses. There is no one you can ask when a situation becomes difficult to understand. Many positions have hundreds of potential moves, where only a few don’t lose. Finally, the Glicko system is used, virtually guaranteeing that no matter how much you master the game, you will always lose half the time. This last part is quite humbling.

Fortunately, professional settings are also very different from chess in ways, and much more forgiving. Successful businesses will understand that as humans we will make mistakes. Use this to further your skill sets and ultimately your career. If the intentions are good and the risks calculated, you should strive to push the boundaries. This will ensure continued learning, and you’ll be better because of it.

“You have to have the fighting spirit. You have to take chances" - Fischer