Resources for Humans editor Celeste Blackburn reviews the book How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves from the Board to the Boardroom by Garry Kasparov. Reviews highlights how book’s theories on strategic thinking can be used in HR, business, and personal life.
Despite what the title seems to imply, Kasparov doesn’t give secret grandmaster tips and strategies specifically designed for the business world in How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom
Kasparov uses examples of great politicians, chess players, and business people to illustrate his principals. In the introduction he tells us, “Better decision-making cannot be taught, but it can be self-taught.” To me, that is the theme of the book, as he explains the process in three parts:
Part 1: In this section, Kasparov focuses mainly on the distinction between strategy (abstract and based on long term goals) and tactics (concrete and based on finding the best move right now). He advocates self awareness and gives readers specific questions to ask themselves to help toward that goal.
Part 2: Here, Kasparov focuses on what he calls MTQ, which stands for material (assets, stock, cash, goods, pieces, or pawns: things that are easy to assess the value of), time, and quality. He breaks down his decision-making process in high-stakes games and challenges readers to look at their own decision-making (and shows them how).
Part 3: For the last third of the book, Kasparov examines how the previous elements can all combine to improve performance. I particularly enjoyed his discussion of intuition: when is it a gut instinct rooted in experience that we should trust on the fly and when is it an emotional reaction that should be further evaluated?
One thing I found rather off-putting was Kasparov’s frequent references to defeating enemies. While I understand that in a chess match you do have an opponent to vanquish, in life, I hope that most of us don’t have actual enemies to deal with. Unless, of course, we are talking about being our own worst enemies — say, how laying on the couch watching TV can be so much more appealing than exercising or doing something else constructive with the time — and in that case, I think Kasparov does an excellent job showing us how to turn that around.
While none of what Kasparov writes in How Life Imitates Chess is groundbreaking, I found it very compelling. I admit it: I took notes and have already started thinking about how I can apply many of his principles at home and at work. While there probably aren’t that many straight HR lessons to learn here, the broader lessons can only help with general decision-making and human relations.
I give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Celeste Blackburn is managing Editor of HR Insight.