Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy

by Patrick Bet-David

Elon Musk started playing chess at a young age. “He’s able to see things more clearly in a way that no one else I know of can understand,” his brother, Kimbal, said. “There’s a thing in chess where you can see twelve moves ahead if you’re a grand master. And in any particular situation, Elon can see things twelve moves ahead.”

Most people don’t think more than one or two moves ahead. Those people are amateurs and flame out quickly in business. Effective strategy is about making a move and being prepared to launch another series of moves based on how the market or your competition reacts. You must think beyond your first strike to execute an effective strategy. When you start to get really good, you anticipate how others will react and can deploy a series of moves that are nearly impossible to counteract.

People who don’t think more than one move ahead are driven by ego, emotion, and fear.

as with most business decisions, one is clearly the easier choice; the other—which entails thinking five moves ahead—is the more effective choice.

Some of you overachievers may be wondering why only five moves ahead. There are two reasons. First, five moves is the sweet spot of thoughtful strategy and swift action. Though there may be times when you will want to think beyond five moves, such as at an annual off-site meeting or when you are analyzing a possible acquisition (or building a colony on Mars), thinking too many moves ahead can lead to paralysis by analysis. Five moves is enough to make sure you are anticipating future outcomes and seeing moves and countermoves.

Enthusiasm can be powerful, as long as it’s coupled with planning five moves ahead.

When you learn to think five moves ahead, it may seem as though you’re becoming a mind reader. What’s actually happening is you’ve seen the moves so many times that you can anticipate what your opponent is going to say or do next.

The five moves are: 1. Master Knowing Yourself 2. Master the Ability to Reason 3. Master Building the Right Team 4. Master Strategy to Scale 5. Master Power Plays

Nothing matters unless you understand what makes you tick and who you want to be.

start by asking questions. Before making any recommendations, I gather as much info as I can about who the person wants to be and what he or she wants out of life.

The only thing separating us from greatness is a vision and a plan for achieving greatness. When you’re fighting for a cause, a dream, something greater than yourself, you will find the enthusiasm, passion, and joy that make life a great adventure. The key is identifying your cause and knowing who you want to be.

clarity comes from making decisions that are aligned with your core beliefs and values.

Think back to your toughest moments when you declared, “Never again!” Recalling those experiences will be your fuel.

Ultimately, they led me to a point of clarity about exactly who I want to be. They led me to say “never again” and to create a list of my nonnegotiables (things you are not willing to compromise no matter the circumstances).

You really need to get clear about what you can sacrifice and what you absolutely will not sacrifice.

position yourself in the best way possible by making the right moves. A phrase I use all the time is future truth. It means to live in the present as if your future truth has already become a reality.

I realized that for IBM to become a great company it would have to act like a great company long before it ever became one.

A visionary is somebody who is not living in the here and now. He or she has already seen at least five moves ahead and is living in that reality. Explaining your future truth to others, however, may come across as unrealistic, boastful, or even delusional.

People want to follow someone who is driven by his or her future truth. It’s the reason we’re enamored with visionaries. As long as the person speaking has 100 percent conviction, he or she will get others fired up. The best leaders have the ability not only to believe in future truths but also to inspire others to believe and execute their vision.

Do you know who you want to be? Do you have a clear vision of what that looks like? At this very moment, is the way you are acting consistent with your future truth?

Marcus Aurelius was a leader who never put himself above the people. He didn’t let power get to his head. A practitioner of stoicism, he reminds me to stay both centered and humble. Aristotle was the voice of reason in Alexander the Great’s ear when he was on his way to becoming king. The ability of the Greek philosopher to think and reason reminds me of the importance of slowing down and taking the time to process issues.

Who do you want to be?

embody that person and act as if you are already there. It’s a lifelong practice.

Maturity is the ability to reject good alternatives in order to pursue even better ones.” When you’re honest about who you are, you learn to stop wanting everything.

Your vision must align with who you want to be. Your choices must align with your vision. Your effort must align with the size of your vision. Your behavior must align with your values and principles.

Defining your purpose is asking the questions: How do I want to be remembered? How do I want to make an impact on other people’s lives? It’s about realizing why you were put on this earth and pushing the limits of the greatest version of yourself. Operating at the highest level of the pyramid is driven by: History Helping others Change Impact Enlightenment/self-actualization

If you want to make a big impact, it will happen only if you’re willing to sit down and ask yourself some important questions about life. Unfortunately, so many times people are just going, going, going, and they die never having asked themselves the questions that matter most.

Even though I was certain about my future truth—in my mind, I had already seen it happen—I needed to adapt my approach to meet the needs of my audience. My vision didn’t change, but my approach needed serious work.

You need to understand who you are, what makes you tick, how much risk you can handle, and what type of family you want to create.

Once you become clear about the most important product (you), your decisions will flow naturally and lead you to accomplish your goals.

Five Qualities of a Successful Intrapreneur 1. An intrapreneur thinks like an entrepreneur. 2. An intrapreneur works like an entrepreneur. 3. An intrapreneur possesses the urgency of an entrepreneur. 4. An intrapreneur innovates like an entrepreneur. 5. An intrapreneur protects the brand (and the money) like an entrepreneur. This list highlights the fact that intrapreneurs don’t act or think like regular employees; they act and think like owners. They’re not working for a paycheck; they’re working to build something that gives them pride and fulfillment. In doing so, they want recognition, autonomy, resources, and ownership.

Intrapreneurs have the respect to say, “Look, I think like you, I work like you, I’m the same as you, but you put up the money. You ignited the vision, and you took all the risk.” Intrapreneurs work within the system but find ways to improve themselves while also improving the company. If you don’t have that degree of respect for the founder or the current CEO, you are not in the right place to build a business within a business.

Remember that not making a move is also a move. Losing time on the clock will come back to haunt you, whether you’re playing chess or the game of business.

Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, professors at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, was published in 2004. This book was the key resource that led me to find a game in which I could win. The premise of the book is that rather than competing in games where you’re an underdog, find unexplored new markets in which you can win—and ultimately make the competition irrelevant.

Businesses need a unique selling proposition. Part of finding a market in which you can win is knowing who you are. Process the competitive landscape: Is this a place where you believe you can do well, given who your competition is? Do you possess the necessary resources to compete? Do you need to acquire specific resources before you can compete?

In Blue Ocean Strategy, the authors warned against trying to beat competitors at their strengths. They insist that it’s a losing position and offer a ton of evidence to support their claim. They believe instead in focusing on blue-ocean marketing, going into areas that are relatively fresh and open to superior growth.

The financial industry’s marketing approach—like that of the old-guard politicians—was outdated. The industry had yet to embrace social media. At the same time, it had changed its policies.

You’re going to have moments when you feel as though the world is coming to an end. An amateur panics, but a grand master doesn’t. Before he does anything, he must first “process” what’s happening. He has to do so while staying on an even keel. This is why stoicism is both so important and so challenging—and why Marcus Aurelius and Seneca are sages who have stood the test of time. Emotion can get the best of all of us and cloud our judgment. Sadly, I’ve learned this lesson the hard way too many times. It’s why my answer about the key to success for people at all levels of business is “Know how to process issues.” Life is always happening; the way you respond is based on how you process issues.

Processing is the ability to make effective decisions based on access to information at hand with the highest odds in your favor. 2. Processing is about subjecting every difficult choice, problem, or opportunity you face to a rigorous mental analysis. 3. Processing is playing out strategies, seeing the hidden consequences, and sequencing a series of moves to permanently solve problems.

Great processors use the word “I” and see their role in whatever problem has occurred. They ask questions such as “How did I contribute to this? What did I do to cocreate this situation? How can I improve so I’ll be better equipped to handle something like this in the future?”

What differentiates mediocre people from exceptional ones is how deeply they process. Most people are surface-level processors, but the best of the best go much deeper. Long-term thinking versus short-term thinking is the difference between a grand master and an amateur. Surface-level processors are looking for a quick fix. They are thinking only one move ahead, and their goal is to make the issue disappear for now. Deep-level processors look beneath the surface for causes. They are thinking several moves ahead and planning a sequence of moves to make sure the issue doesn’t happen again.

In my view, the key to his success is his ability to process issues and accept responsibility. He doesn’t hold back his opinions and thoughts. He simply talks through how his mind operates and, in doing so, gives us a glimpse into how he processes issues.

A pro who has been processing issues for decades understands that nobody does anything to him without his allowing it. Rather than becoming bitter, achievers use adversity as a lever to get better. In this case, Rogan directed his frustration to avoid making the same mistake again.

1. Take responsibility for your role in what happened. 2. State specifically what you did to create the problem. 3. Channel your frustration into getting better and preventing future problems.

I feel strongly about taking responsibility and owning your role in what happens. Acting like a victim is the opposite of being a grand master. At the same time, let’s recognize that things do happen outside your control. As we learned from the pandemic that started at the beginning of 2020, you are going to deal with external forces that have nothing to do with your choices. Many things are not your fault. Negative events happen that are beyond your control.

When everyone is freaking out, it’s incumbent upon you, the leader, to be the calm in the storm. Decisiveness, resiliency, and calmly processing issues are even more critical at this time. The way you react either shortens or extends the crisis.

What extends or decreases the lifespan of a crisis: 1. Your strategies 2. Your level of poise 3. Your overexaggeration of a crisis: Turning a 3 into a 9 4. Your downplaying of a crisis: Turning a 9 into a 3 5. Your ability to see five moves ahead.

There’s no reason to blame yourself for an accident or a pandemic. You didn’t create the crisis. It’s your reaction to the crisis that will determine the life or death of your business.

Use Investment Time Return (ITR)

So much of processing is about perspective.