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5 things I learnt from chess that I relate back to the services business, solutioning and more. ♟ 
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1/ Chess Opening = Initial Prospect contact. Openings are always prepared, repeatable and are played from the book. Be prepared with enough information to be conveyed quickly to get the conversation game started. Your opening is your services niche. Mine is the English opening 
2a/ Mid-game = Pre-sales/Solutioning. Mid games are played with creativity. Prophylactic thinking in chess equates to finding the thinking behind the conversation to find the real problem to be solved. This is where good consultants thrive.
2b/ Also the part where you define the solution and nail down the details that make closing easy (in chess you setup similarly for the end game you think is better)
3a/ End Game = Closing. Both of these words makes chess players and businesspersons flinch equally. The hardest part of the game. This when you should not be doing any critical thinking or solutioning. You should already know what’s at hand and it’s value.
3b/ In chess you make meticulous, precise, machine like moves. Closing is the same trust in what you have from the solutioning and work out the logistics and objections. Good Closing/End-games shouldn’t last long.
4/ Stalemate/Draw. GMs typically know when it’s going to be a draw and agree to it. If you’ve messed up and there is no result coming out of repeated conversations. It’s best for both parties to shake hands, call it a day and agree that the 2 business are not a good fit.
5/ Pawns may not seem important but they can change the game. Every person on the team should be a contributor. There is no reason for why an analyst can not contribute to sales and no reason for the CEO to not roll up their sleeves to get into the weeds.
BONUS: What @ReheSamay has done with chess in India shows you can go against the odds to do what you like, package it with what you are good at (comedy) and deliver quality. Relationship building is also a key aspect to learn here. His list of guests is never-ending
In all. Thanks @ReheSamay @viditchess @sagarchess1 @anishgiri and others for making chess fun. It just made business fun too.
People like @ReheSamay @viditchess @anishgiri @sagarchess1 @rajachess are contributors to this thread and they don’t even know it. 
