The King Should Know What the Knight is Doing
“Snatch not eagerly at every advantage offered by his skillfulness or inattention, but point out to him kindly that by such a move he places or leaves a piece en prise unsupported, that by another he will put his King into a dangerous situation. By this general civility, you may happen indeed to lose the game, but you will win what is better: his esteem, his respect, and his affection, together with the silent approbation and good will of the spectators.” — Ben Franklin on the Morals of Chess — 1779
I love analogies. Consider how business is much like the game of chess with the following three moral lessons of correct behavior (freely paraphrased from “The Morals of Chess” by Benjamin Franklin).
Foresight: Look into the future and consider the consequences. Think about the real advantages and the impact it will have on others. Imagine how you might righteously defend your position.
Circumspection: Examine the bigger picture, the dangers, the possibilities, the probabilities. Be brave and face all options that scare you.
Caution: Don’t make moves in haste or in passion. Keep to the rules and guidelines of etiquette, law, and commandments. And, understand that once you’ve made your move, you set into play a series of events over which you may not have recourse, from which you might suffer in your soul, as well as your life.
I’ve observed leaders who reach a level of success and get complacent, sitting back on their laurels, forgetting the importance of accountability, over-site, and communication.
- The CEO should never lose touch with what their team is doing.
- Leadership is not only about having a vision but getting people on board and in alignment with your vision.
- You lose a business slowly, then suddenly. Don’t let it happen to you. Consider hiring a coach who helps you set up an action plan and holds you accountable.
- CEOs shouldn’t get diplomatic immunity! Be vulnerable and allow your employees to give you performance feedback. You may get the best “aha” moment of your life.
The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, to become habits ready on all occasions, for life is a kind of Chess, in which we often have points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events that are, in some degree, the effect of prudence, or the want of it. —Benjamin Franklin, The Morals of Chess, June 1779.
