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Starting and maintaining a successful business is rarely a perfect trajectory for growth. As a business leader, you’ll face many situations that test the very essence of your vision, your resilience, and your drive to succeed. When these difficult events occur, it is often helpful to think of the experience as parallel to a strategic game. Here are five principles for winning when you face difficult times in business.
1. Be resourceful
In any business enterprise, you may reach a point of overconfidence, only to be unexpectedly plunged into disappointment. Games could also be about winning and losing, but winning is about strategy.
One way to deal with adversity is to (*5*) Instead of viewing failure as “something that happened to me,” I turn into resourceful. People leave; business partners leave. Being resourceful means planning for the inevitable. I’m all the time looking for latest talent. I don’t normally hire in a crisis; I hire individuals who can handle a crisis. This mindset is different from the mindset of many leaders who deal with disaster after disaster. Think of strategy as a way to manage wins—and losses.
2. Be proactive
I have procedures in place to handle some of the worst-case scenarios. You have to ask uncomfortable questions like, “What if an employee committed identity theft and stole money from the company?” or “What if a remote employee left and kept the company equipment?” I also use training manuals with helpful links and create resources to help employees with the onboarding process and the day-to-day information they need—to minimize frustration. Avoiding repetitive requests and providing employees with what they need is an necessary a part of planning for the inevitable.
Another tool I take advantage of is to make good use of my downtime. I plan my day around the idea of waking up early, when I’m at my peak and everyone else is still asleep. I read emails, do research, and check my to-do list. You can pivot your day—and your game—so you may control what happens.
3. Look for what you may’t see
The game of chess could seem easy. At first glance, there is no hidden information. All the pieces are on the board. But you are not only looking at the pieces on the playing field. Instead, you are looking at all the potential moves—the ones that can put you in danger and the actions that might defeat the competition.
It’s tempting to react to the whole lot from market trends to economic forecasts. Many leaders abandon their plans when things don’t go as expected. But in chess, you progress with intention based on a specific strategy. Staying on the attack is key.
While developing a game plan could seem overly structured, it is a crucial first step in life and business. Your plan becomes your philosophy. How you respond to crises and who you are, in good times and bad, matters. Your consistency builds your brand, even greater than a great marketing campaign.
4. Learn to let go
I have learned to loosen up in difficult moments and to observe, listen and wait. Patience is key in a crisis. Like the long meditations of a chess player, I take my time to process information without reacting too quickly.
There will likely be times when employees betray you. You may realize that your trust in someone necessary has been violated. It is necessary to step back and develop a plan for how to deal with the situation, relatively than overreacting and increasing everyone’s stress levels.
It’s easy to let pressures, or even individuals, rush you, manipulate you, or pressure you into making decisions. When I’m doing a TV show, I often feel like everyone is trying to direct me, but I’ve learned to stay focused and decelerate so I can hit my targets.
5. Let others make you higher
Some of my best mentors challenged me in the very best ways. Now I hunt down individuals who “raise my feathers” and refuse to tell me what I would like to hear. Surrounding yourself with individuals who coddle you is dangerous. I’ve learned the hard way that not every idea I have is a great one. Sometimes I only have the seed of an idea and I would like a network of colleagues, partners, and employees to help me develop it into something value pursuing.
In poker, you rely on every other player to offer you something you would like. You learn to “read the room” or “read the table” to determine who has the biggest market for what you would like to know. Someone’s “hand” may look higher than yours, but the truth is they were just using the resources that they had. Or they could have been bluffing to get you to back down. The difference is patience, statement, and learning when to say “no” to an opportunity and when to say “yes.”
In business, I have learned that it is not the cards you are dealt that matter, but what you do with them. Throwing away is the way you play the game. Knowing when to end a program that is not producing results is a good example. On the other hand, quitting too soon could be devastating to a company. Being patient enough to allow your organization to survive the pains of growth can take you from a place of instability to a solid foundation for exponential growth.
Winning in business is knowing how to use the right strategy to play the game well. Sometimes all you may do is stay in the game. Everyone around you is hunting for an edge. The stakes are high, but if you decelerate and find the right strategy ahead of time, you’ll discover the moves that can take you to the top.