Playing the next level game!

I was watching my son playing a car race game on his PlayStation. Suddenly, he screamed with an excitement that he completed a level and won the race. Now he can access powerful cars and parts that will help him build a new and powerful car. He spent next hour just building his new race car (Out of his 2 hours of digital time, he had used up 30 min of Initial play and hour in simulating his new car and was left with half an hour of play time). While building the car he was checking with me, how was it looking, how much power he needs to keep, styling, etc.

Once the car was ready he had a test drive, he modified the car with few more changes to meet his requirements. Once ready he moved to the race track. He went around the track very carefully studying the bends and bumps ensuring that his new beast will be able to manoeuvre and will not be damaged and planning how to avoid being hit by the others. He finished his stipulated digital time of 2 hours for the weekend. I asked him why he refrained racing for last 30 mins with his new car. He response surprised me, “Dad watch me next week, I will win the race next time. I now know the track and other racers. I have a plan to beat them and with a big margin, which will will help me, “Play the Next Level Game”."

I was trying to analyse the experience of my son’s preparation for his next level game! I started draw a parallel to what we do in the business world. I could relate to my son's gaming and strategy to the business strategy, which we often struggle to incorporate in our business or strategic initiatives. This strategy adopted (Just by doing what he does good) by a teenager was not much different than many of us who are planning to make an impact and maximise the outcome. In summary these were his actions

•  Clarity of the goal
• Understanding where you are
• Awareness of what and how of the competition
• Knowing what you need to reach the goal
• Preparing and acquiring skills/capability to succeed
• Spending time on passion
• Pilot the solution
• Failing fast & learning from mistakes
• Patience and perseverance
• Constant practice

 Aren’t these the requirements for anyone to “Play The Next Level Game”? When we start our business we all have a strategy to achieve X revenue, have Y number of customers, with Z number of employees, xx Market share and so on. Whether it is a PlayStation game or business goals, the requisites broadly remain the same as

• Understand your Why?
• Reviewing the business plan
• Revisiting the Value proposition
• Measuring and tracking
• Being Agile and adaptable
• Quick to learn
• Governance Structure
• Understanding unknowns and influencing parameters or variables

 We are keen to hear from you. We’ll happy to engage and help achieve your goal and remember it’s ‘OK’ to ask for help.

 Deepak Daniel, Director @ Genesis Consulting Services Ltd.