Strategic Thinking

STRATEGIC THINKING:


I learned strategy when I was in the third grade.

We were playing kickball.  Routinely, Jim and Roger or Jim and Greg would be Captains.  After the coin toss, they would choose up their teams.

One day, Greg pulled Jim aside for a brief talk.  Jim came back to announce that he and Greg would be co-captains.

You can easily see that if Jim won the coin toss, he would get first choice.  He would also have the first two picks.

If Roger won the toss, he would actually get second pick.  Nonetheless, if there were 5 good athletes to choose from, regardless of who won the toss, Jim would have the edge.


Now let's Build on that and use the names of the guys at CNBC for clarity.

Let's say, the grownups interfere for our own good. The new paradigm is this:  The teacher puts everyone's name in a hat and chooses a captain.  The one captain is Jon Najarian. The other captain?  Well, when my name is called everyone groans.  I groan.  I win the coin toss and I pick Pete Najarian.  Jon picks Steve Liesman.  I ask Pete, who do I pick?  Guy Adami or Joe Teranova?  Pete says, Pick Joe, because if you pick Guy, Jon will pick Joe.  I say, "but I thought Guy was a better athlete."  Pete says, he is.  But Guy and Jon don't get along.  If you pick Joe, Jon can pick Guy, but they will keep butting heads and that is bad for team moral.  If he picks Scott, you pick Guy.   It will be a win win situation.

These are things I know:

1. I am not athletic.
2. I have no ability to gauge the abilities of the other kids in my class.
3. My classmates won't "follow me" because they know I am not Captain material.

No seven year old boy wants to be Captain of the team.  He wants to be Captain of the winning team.  And if given a choice, he will choose to be a player on the winning team rather than be Captain of the losing team.

Fortunately, I grew up before the "empowerment and dignity crowd" began micro-managing the students' time on the playground.  This is where you learn this stuff.

Regards,

Slim.



Further reading

Marketing 1959



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