Do Business Well

The Rules of the Game

As in any game, the “people game” has rules that must be honored if you are to become any good at it.

I’ve included a few here to give you a taste for them. As for the rest of them, you’ll have to discover them for yourself by playing a game of your own. You’ll learn the rules in the process.

1. Never figure out what you want your people to do and then try to create a game out of it. If it’s to be seen as serious, the game has to come first_; what your people do, second.

2. Never create a game for your people you’re unwilling to play yourself. They’ll find you out and never let you forget it.

3. Make sure there are specific ways of winning the game without ending it. The game can never end because the end will take the life right out of your business. But unless there are victories in the process, your people will grow weary. Hence, the value of victories now and then. They keep people in the game and make the game appealing, even when it’s not.

Change the game from time to time—the tactics, not the strategy. The strategy is its ethic, the moral underpning of your game’s logic. This must remain sacrosanct, for it is the foundation of you and your people’s commitment to each other. But change is necessary. For any game can become ordinary, no matter how exhilarating it may be at the beginning.

4. To know when change is called for, watch your people. Their results will tell you when the game’s all but over. The trick is to anticipate the end before anyone else does and to change it by executive action. You’ll know if you’ve pulled it off by watching how everyone responds to the change. Not at first, however. You can expect some resistance at first. But persist. Your persistence will move them through their resistance into your new and more enlivening game.

5. Never expect the game to be self-sustaining. People need to be reminded of it constantly. At least once a week, create a special meeting about the game. At least once a day, make some kind of issue about an exception to the way the game has been played—and make certain that everyone knows about it.

Remember, in and of itself the game doesn’t exist. It is alive to the degree that people make it so. But people have the unerring ability to forget everything they start and to be distracted by trivia. Most great games are lost that way. To make certain yours isn’t, don’t expect your people to be something they’re not. Remind them, time after time, of the game they’re playing with you. You can’t remind them too often.

6. The game has to make sense. An illogical game will abort before it ever gets going. The best games are built on universally verifiable truths. Everyone should be able to see them if they’re to be sufficiently attractive. A game with muddy beginnings will get you nowhere. Know the ground you stand on and then assemble your armament. Sooner or later you’ll need it. For a game that isn’t tested isn’t a game at all.

But remember, you can have the best reasons in the world for your game and still end up with a loser if the logic is not supported by a strong emotional commitment. All the logic does is give your people the rational armament to support their emotional commitment. If their commitment wanes, it means that they—and most likely, you—have forgotten the logic. So wheel out the logic often. Make sure everyone remembers the game’s raison d’être.

7. The game needs to be fun from time to time. Note that I said, from time to time. No game needs to be fun all the time. In fact, a game is often no fun at all. That’s part of the thrill of playing a game well: learning how to deal with the “no fun” part so as to retain your dignity while falling on your face.

At the same time, fun needs to be planned into your game. But make certain that the fun you plan is fun. Fun needs to be defined by your people. If it’s fun to them, it will work. But not too often, maybe once every six months. Something to look forward to, and something to forget.

8.If you can’t think of a good game, steal one. Anyone’s ideas are as good as your own. But once you steal somebody else’s game, learn it by heart. There’s nothing worse than pretending to play a game.

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