Chess and Translating Conceptual Thinking into Action (2-18-26)

Last week we kicked off a series about how my kids play chess and examined how we can change the rules. This week is about translating conceptual thinking to action.

Cam and I sat down to play chess and he talked me through the different variations in the rules he made up. We would bring pieces back from the dead, have backstabber pieces where we controlled opponent pieces, and new pieces that would block parts of the board. As he explained them, I thought to myself that this was all relatively straight forward. Then, we started playing and Cam crushed me! It was then I realized that while I might have understood the rules, I was having difficult translating that to action. It took me several rounds before I began to internalize how I could apply these concepts differently to ultimately win.

Let’s make some connections. Have you ever had an experience like this at work? Maybe it looked like this. You had a beautiful process diagram, and everything felt like it made sense. Then, once you started executing the process you realized you were still unsure of how it worked. Or maybe it looks like this. You conceptually know how to leverage AI, but once you got to the tools you didn’t really know how to put that into action. I experience this all the time. I’ve found that it’s easy to get lost in overthinking. It’s easy to swirl around frameworks and process maps, talking about them until you feel everything is perfect. It’s important to do the thinking AND it’s also important to jump in as soon as you can to apply these concepts. The application is what forces you to turn those ideas into action, because thinking can only get you so far.

The challenge: How will you translate conceptual understanding into action?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Chess and the Power to Evolve Rules (2-11-26)

This week we are going to kick off a series inspired by how my kids play chess. This week is about chess and the power to evolve rules.

The other day Cameron asked me to sit down and play chess with him. When I did the first thing I asked was, “What rules are we playing by?” At this point you might be confused. If you’ve played chess, you know there is a standard set of rules that dictates how pieces move. This set of rules impacts how people strategize and play the game.

Cameron and Alice enjoy normal chess, and they have found a lot of joy in creating new versions. Each version begins with the normal rules of the game and then adds new twists ranging from the ability to bring pieces back from the dead to have traitors that take your own pieces. Every unique wrinkle changes the way you strategize and play the game. I ask what version they want to play, so I can also have a say in shaping the rules.

Let’s make two connections to work. First, how many times have you heard people at work say things like, “This is the process. This is the way we do things. This is just the environment we operate in.”? Have you been the one to say those things? I have. It happens to the best of us 😉 Often, when we think of work, we believe that the rules are fixed, but they don’t have to be. Cam and Alice have shown us that we can evolve the rules just like in chess. When we evolve the rules, we change the way we think about and play the game. Every process, every workflow, and every preconceived notion can and should be challenged. This is the only way to make progress.

Here is the second connection. The environment is changing faster than ever before. If we are not intentional about evolving the game we call work, then we will just have to blindly accept whatever new rules come our way. I’d much rather shape the rules and the game. What about you?

The challenge: How will you challenge the rules and shape the games you play?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Chess and Leveraging Strengths (5-1-18)

This will be the last in the series inspired by board games. We started with Checkers and making sacrifices, moved to Battleship and leveraging our knowledge, explored Chutes and Ladders and how we are playing on different boards, and last week was about Connect 4 and searching for connections. This week, I’d like us to think about chess and leveraging the strengths of the various chess pieces.

In case you’ve never played chess, the objective is to trap the opponent’s king in what is called checkmate. Each side has 16 pieces consisting of 8 pawns, 2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops, 1 queen, and 1 king. For example, a bishop moves diagonally, while a knight moves in an L shape, jumping over pieces. All the pieces are different, and they all have value. If you want to be successful in chess you need to understand how the pieces move, so you can leverage their strengths.

You’re probably already seeing some of the connections already. There are all kinds of people in our lives and on our teams, and each of these individuals is gifted in different ways. If we want to capture the king and achieve our goal, we need to understand the players we have around us and leverage their strengths. To continue with the chess analogy, it doesn’t make sense to make everyone move diagonally like bishops. Maybe some people are knights, who use their knack for maneuvering to get around problems. Maybe some are pawns, who are always willing to be the first to step out front and plow the way forward. Maybe some are queens with the vision to move across the entire board. Think about yourself for a moment. How often have you been on teams where your context, experiences, skills, etc. have truly been leveraged? What was that like? I’ve been on some teams where I feel my uniqueness was valued and it made me feel incredible and as a result my work was great. I’ve also experienced the opposite and that was pretty crummy.

As we lead and work on teams, it’s up to us to figure out what others bring to the table and how we can help them be in a position to best leverage those strengths. Think of some of the people you work with. What do they bring that you can leverage to make you and the team better? Maybe it’s a skill they have, work experience, life experience, a point of view, etc. Do they know you value that in them? What are you doing to leverage this magic? (Seriously, challenge yourself to come up with a very tactical answer. If we’re being real with each other, if we can’t come up with a solid answer in like 5 seconds about what we are specifically doing to unleash the skills we all bring, we probably aren’t doing good enough in that area.)

The challenge: How are you helping people unleash and leverage their context, experiences, skills, etc.?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry