5 Powerful Business Lessons From Record Breaking Epic, Game of Thrones

Apart from the powerful punchlines, excellent plot and jaw-dropping action, are there any possible business take-homes for the entrepreneur in HBO's widely acclaimed record-breaking epic, Game of Thrones? I have picked out five key lessons every startpreneur should learn from the series and why they should be taken seriously.

By their titles, you shall know them. Exactly! The title of the series alone, with the accompanying rider, you win or die, sets the stage for high-level intrigue and real action. No doubt, HBO delivered on that promise. The interesting thing about how all that intrigue and action played out is the way it all resonates with entrepreneurship-centric TV shows like Dragons Den and Daymond John's Shark Tank, driving home the same central theme of survival of the smartest.

Unlike Shark Tank or Dragons Den which are direct business development series, the lessons in Game of Thrones are in between the lines. Below are the top five I believe every entrepreneur should live by.

1. Self Preservation

From the very first scene in episode one of Season One to the last of Season Seven so far, the message of self-preservation rings loud and clear as the different houses in the Seven Kingdoms scheme for relevance to the Iron Throne. Those directly laying claim to the throne seeks to preserve their houses even as they plot the fall of others.

Business Lesson: Every entrepreneur must be willing to make the sacrifices need to preserve or protect their brands in the marketplace of ideas. You must put your brand's interest first in all business dealings

2. Strategic Alliances

As the Seven Kingdoms and all the Houses all scheme for relevance or outright claim to the Iron Throne, much of their actions revolve around building strategic alliances. Even the seemingly all-powerful Mother of Dragons, Daenerys, found it necessary to make powerful allies in her quest to regain her father's throne. Like the game of chess, every move is calculated and dependent on the value of making alliances with the different Houses and scattered kingdoms

Business Lesson: As you build synergy and leverage on valuable relationships in your business network, every action must be deliberate and strategic to advancing your business cause, and ultimately the goal of getting ahead of the game. Isolation kills.

3. Emotional Intelligence

There's perhaps no better demonstration of emotional intelligence than the characters of the witty dwarf, Tyrion Lannister, the fat Night Watchman turned Maester, Samuel Tarly, and the irrepressible and mistaken bastard, Jon Snow. These three prove the worth of emotional intelligence as a tool for survival in a hostile business environment as well as a powerful force for conflict resolution.

Business Lesson: Every entrepreneur must place a premium on the value of emotional intelligence in their organization. Daniel Goleman's Working With Emotional Intelligence is a great start.

4. It's All About Numbers

A recurring theme in the whole series so far is that winning is tied to numbers. The Dragon Mothers' transformation from Khaleesi to Queen Daenerys, Jon Snow's rise from cast out bastard to King in the North, and the fear and plans for the Great War with the Dead King boil down to numbers. It's either any one of the players have the numbers or they are forming alliances to achieve that.

Business Lesson: The entrepreneur or manager must understand that getting ahead of the competition is also a game of numbers and not just about how good his product or service is. The pertinent questions that should always drive his actions are: (i) Do I have the numbers to become the best in my market and (ii) How do I generate those numbers. Again, strategic alliances or the power of leverage is always a right step for startpreneurs with lean resources.

5. The Value of Reputation

Perhaps, another title for the series would have been The Battle of Reputations. This is clearly evident in all the seasons to date. Much of the victories or defeats are all dependent or predictable based on the reputations of all the schemers, contenders and pretenders to the throne. Tyrion Lannister was always almost getting himself killed or saved because of this.

Business Lesson: An entrepreneur cannot afford to joke with the value of the branding or image projection and corporate integrity in its business dealings. Your personal success in life or that of your business depends on it. Your reputation travels ahead of you. What would you rather have it be? Join me me tomorrow as I share more on the subject of personal and corporate integrity.

These are some of my practical business lessons from the series so far. Want to share yours? Let's hear it! 

Ramya Venugopal https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/ramyavenugopalx/

Narendra Modi https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/narendramodi/

Shradha Sharma https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/sharmashradha/

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/kmazumdarshaw/

Vani Kola https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/vanikola/

Santosh Desai https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/santosh-desai-8073105/

Ravi Venkatesan https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/ravi-venkatesan-ba15b820/

Shashi Tharoor

Vartika Kashyap https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/vartika-kashyap-30653245/Parag Kar https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/paragkar/

Hari T.N https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/harimrinal23577532/

Tamal Bandyopadhyay https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/tamal-bandyopadhyay-818b2b9/

Prabal Basu Roy https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/prabalbasuroy/

Adhil Shetty https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/adhilshetty/

Procyon Mukherjee https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/procyon/

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#management 

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#creativity

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Ramya Venugopal https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/ramyavenugopalx/

Narendra Modi https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/narendramodi/

Shradha Sharma https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/sharmashradha/

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/kmazumdarshaw/

Vani Kola https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/vanikola/

Santosh Desai https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/santosh-desai-8073105/

Ravi Venkatesan https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/ravi-venkatesan-ba15b820/

Shashi Tharoor

Vartika Kashyap https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/vartika-kashyap-30653245/Parag Kar https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/paragkar/

Hari T.N https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/harimrinal23577532/

Tamal Bandyopadhyay https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/tamal-bandyopadhyay-818b2b9/

Prabal Basu Roy https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/prabalbasuroy/

Adhil Shetty https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/adhilshetty/

Procyon Mukherjee https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/procyon/

#india 

#innovation

#management 

#humanresources

#digitalmarketing

#creativity

#technology

#future

#futurism

#markets

#entrepreneurship

#startups

#careers

#venturecapital

#socialmedia

#socialnetworking

#leanstartups

#economy

#marketing

#economics

#professionalwomen

#branding

#advertisingandmarketing

#gender

#womeninscience 

#feminism

#investing

#money

#jobinterviews

#personaldevelopment

#motivation

#alternativeenergy

#sustainability

#personalbranding

#hiringandpromotion

#healthcare

#education

#customerrelations

#teachersandschoolemployees

#educationpolicy

#educationreform

#whatinspiresme

#medicine

#productivity

#healthcarereform

#bestadvice

#managedcare

#airtravel

#travel

#bigdata

#gettingthingsdone

#businessintelligence

#businesstravel

#softwareengineering

#programming

#analytics

#softwaredesign

#datamining

#agilesoftwaredevelopment

#data

#socialentrepreneurship

#fundraising

#streamingmedia 

#law

#legalissues

#sales

#design

#ecommerce

#restaurants

#graphicdesign

#strategy

#visualdesign

#industrialdesign

#retailing

#finances

#projectmanagement

#userexperience

#accountingandaccountants

#journalism

#mobiletechnology

#shoppingandtheretailindustry

#onlineshopping

#music

#commerce

#mobilemarketing

#newspapers

#culture

#managementconsulting

#construction

#fashion

#mobileapplications

#mobileadvertising

#automotiveindustry

#realestate

#operationsmanagement

#consultants

#energy 

#cloudcomputing 

#publicrelations 

#oilgas

Ramya Venugopal https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/ramyavenugopalx/

Narendra Modi https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/narendramodi/

Shradha Sharma https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/sharmashradha/

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/kmazumdarshaw/

Vani Kola https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/vanikola/

Santosh Desai https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/santosh-desai-8073105/

Ravi Venkatesan https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/ravi-venkatesan-ba15b820/

Shashi Tharoor

Vartika Kashyap https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/vartika-kashyap-30653245/Parag Kar https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/paragkar/

Hari T.N https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/harimrinal23577532/

Tamal Bandyopadhyay https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/tamal-bandyopadhyay-818b2b9/

Prabal Basu Roy https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/prabalbasuroy/

Adhil Shetty https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/adhilshetty/

Procyon Mukherjee https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/procyon/

#india 

#innovation

#management 

#humanresources

#digitalmarketing

#creativity

#technology

#future

#futurism

#markets

#entrepreneurship

#startups

#careers

#venturecapital

#socialmedia

#socialnetworking

#leanstartups

#economy

#marketing

#economics

#professionalwomen

#branding

#advertisingandmarketing

#gender

#womeninscience 

#feminism

#investing

#money

#jobinterviews

#personaldevelopment

#motivation

#alternativeenergy

#sustainability

#personalbranding

#hiringandpromotion

#healthcare

#education

#customerrelations

#teachersandschoolemployees

#educationpolicy

#educationreform

#whatinspiresme

#medicine

#productivity

#healthcarereform

#bestadvice

#managedcare

#airtravel

#travel

#bigdata

#gettingthingsdone

#businessintelligence

#businesstravel

#softwareengineering

#programming

#analytics

#softwaredesign

#datamining

#agilesoftwaredevelopment

#data

#socialentrepreneurship

#fundraising

#streamingmedia 

#law

#legalissues

#sales

#design

#ecommerce

#restaurants

#graphicdesign

#strategy

#visualdesign

#industrialdesign

#retailing

#finances

#projectmanagement

#userexperience

#accountingandaccountants

#journalism

#mobiletechnology

#shoppingandtheretailindustry

#onlineshopping

#music

#commerce

#mobilemarketing

#newspapers

#culture

#managementconsulting

#construction

#fashion

#mobileapplications

#mobileadvertising

#automotiveindustry

#realestate

#operationsmanagement

#consultants

#energy 

#cloudcomputing 

#publicrelations 

#oilgas