This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans (Create a Strategy to Elevate Your Career, Community & Life)

by Seth Godin

The Nash Equilibrium describes the best strategy for a two-player finite game. This is the series of steps that each player should take if they want to maximize their chances of winning given that they have all the information and there are no external forces or luck. Tic Tac Toe has a Nash Equlibrium. This is the strategy of “no regrets.” If we’re to play this game, the Nash equilibrium is the best way to play it. Even if we know that we’re about to lose this round, it’s still the best way to play, each time. But most of us are not involved in two-player finite games. Instead, we encounter complex systems, shifting time frames, and different risk profiles. One approach is to focus on strong links. There are countless factors influencing our decisions, but when we focus on the most direct connections between our actions and the results we seek, we can ignore the emotional trivia that makes simple decisions feel difficult. Another is to be clear about Maximax vs. Maximin. Maximax is the strategy of seeking to maximize the impact of your wins. This is the entertainment business, where it doesn’t matter if you have occasional flops—what matters is focusing on increasing the scale and impact of your hits. The alternative is to focus on Maximin. Minimize the impact of your losses. This is the way a power plant works. It’s nice if your average productivity goes up a bit, but it’s absolutely terrible if something goes wrong and the place melts down. We tend to default to Maximin,...