3 Juicy Leadership Lessons From... Boardgames?

I previously published this article on Forbes

These are the business lessons we've learned from a lifetime of boardgaming. Yes, boardgaming!

Every summer, nearly 2,000 gamers, young and old, descend on Champion, Pennsylvania to compete in the World Boardgaming Championships. I'm one of them. Many are successful business leaders in their own right, including my friend and management-consultant Scott Pfeiffer, who also contributed to this article.

But... Boardgames?

We’re not talking about Monopoly or Candyland. The WBC contestants, all members of the nonprofit Boardgame Players Association, compete in tabletop wargames, economic games, racing games, and political games.

Just like the execution of a business plan, the games are often long and detailed. Some are two-player, pitting the contestants head to head. Others are multiplayer, requiring a mixture of coordination and competition to win, just like typical businesses. All seek to recreate real-life situations, from refighting the Napoleonic Wars to replaying a Formula 1 Grand Prix race in Monaco.

Many of the contestants come each year, like my friend and co-founder Scott Pfeiffer, a business management consultant and writer from South Carolina. This year was Pfeiffer's 24th Convention.

Scott and I recently had a chance to discuss the leadership lessons we’ve learned from a lifetime of boardgaming. There are many, but I wanted to share three with you today:

1. Resource Management

All games, like life, are at heart about resource management. Whether your resources are troops, trains, or time, you can never do as much as you want with the resources you have available.

In games, the rules perhaps permit only a certain number of actions per turn, or limit the number of a certain resource you can use. In life, no person or company has all of the cash, talent or time they need to do everything perfectly.

We must all make choices, such as what we spend our resources on, and what we choose to forego. Games teach you to make these choices quickly, and hone the skill of saying yes to the important, and—just as critically—no to good choices that are not the best choices at the time.

2. Dealing With Conflict

In multiplayer games especially, you have to deal with unexpected conflict, even while trying to cooperate.

One of the things that separate the elite gamer from the masses is the ability to deal with conflict. How do you react to the unexpected? Perhaps an ally betrays you and turns against you at a key moment, or someone plays a piece that blocks your progress, even though the play didn’t help them.

The natural reaction is anger and revenge. To get that guy back, no matter what the cost.

But to be a great gamer, you must learn to check that reaction. Learn to calm the beast within, and quickly reassess the situation. Plan a new strategy based on the new facts—as they are now.

I’ve seen many businesses react to a bad situation with anger and vengeance, destroying themselves in the process.

Indeed, the cloud of an unforeseen conflict can often hide the silver lining of a better result—but only if you learn to swallow your initial reaction and coolly reassess your business strategy, based on the new facts.

3. Winning And Losing

Every game has a winner and a loser. In life, we all win or lose at something, almost every day.

Competitive gaming gives a unique view into the ways in which people react to victory or defeat. The lessons are there to be learned and are powerful.

We all know the winners who can’t stop congratulating themselves, or denigrating their opponents. They squander the reputation they could have made for excellence, instead reaping a reputation for arrogance.

There are also winners who ooze false modesty, deprecating themselves repeatedly, yet keeping the spotlight bright. This type of attention-seeking is also a bad decision.

Studying the way gracious winners react to victory gives insight into how to act in life—when you land that client, make that sale, or receive that award.

However, in life and at games, the poor loser is more prevalent. The poor loser fails to congratulate the winner, blames his cards, the dice, or the other players. The reputational damage for being a poor loser is even greater than for being a poor winner.

In life and at the WBC, it’s critical to learn to lose graciously (and plan to get them next time, of course).

The Bottom Line

As business leaders, in order to excel, we must:

1. manage resources,
2. deal with unexpected conflict, and
3. learn to accept wins and losses graciously.

Gaming teaches this and more. That's why I game, and why most of the contestants at WBC are successful business leaders in their own right.

Come play with us one year. I'll teach you a game.

By Richard Bliss (@RichardBliss)

Richard would like to thank Scott Pfeiffer, his close friend and co-founder of the BPA, for his contributions to this article. Read Scott's business management blog: "On Business". What lessons could you share from your daily life? Weigh in with a comment below...