Clever people play chess. Managers play backgammon but FIFA and Street fighter 6 are the choice of generation Z. Chess is about strategy. Leadership involves thinking and planning ahead. So being good at chess would provide useful leadership skills and be a good indicator of leadership/management potential. Or would it? Leadership/Management involves more that thinking strategically for a start it involves managing people. In chess a player can see the whole board in the real world a senior manager can see the big picture but never the whole picture ,there are always unknowns. A chess piece is restricted in its moves but people don’t always follow the rules or behave rationally. Chess lacks the random element, events that throw even the best plans off course.
Perhaps a dice base game that introduced luck would offer more realism. Like Backgammon which is a game of strategy with the addition of chance introduced by the roll of the dice. Both these board games have a long history. Military leaders through out the ages have viewed chess as a good preparation for the skills required in a military campaign but comparing running an organisation to a military operation doesn’t fit comfortably with modern ideas about managing employees and a focus on collaboration, partnerships, ethical and socially responsible policies. Some people argue that as Senior management involves negotiating skills poker is a good training ground as the game not only involves calculating the odds of success but reading opponents and by skilful bluffing beat an opponent with a better hand. Generation z are more likely to play FIFA or Street Fighter 6 so will that equip them with any skills that could be useful to a future career in management? Probably as much as playing Monopoly taught previous generations about money and investment or Cluedo improved reasoning a deductive skills. Lots of games offer the opportunity to develop skills which would have some application to leadership and management but I think it is the association of chess with clever people so popular in the films. (Like those code breakers at Bletchley Park) that promotes the idea that board games develop leadership skills. But who said cleaver people make good leaders.
Blair Mcpherson former Director author and blogger wwwblairmcpherson.co.uk
