[Invitation] Become a Grandmaster at Business

When he was just 13 years old, chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen nearly defeated former world champion Gary Kasparov during a tournament in Iceland.

The Norwegian kid rattled the Russian with an unconventional opening, but the old guy recovered to salvage a draw.

I recommend the 2016 documentary about Carlsen. Here’s the trailer:

When author Patrick Bet-David saw that documentary he grew obsessed with Carlsen’s ability to think ahead — and how it serves as a metaphor for great leaders’ approach business.

In his book, Your Next Five Moves, Bet-David writes:

“I couldn’t stop thinking about the parallels to business. (Carlsen) is constantly thinking as many as fifteen moves ahead… Most (businesspeople) 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.”

If you prefer NOT to flame out quickly, I suggest you read Your Next Five Moves. It’s a great book — a concise blueprint to become a business strategy grandmaster.

And for your opening move, you can join us today when Mastermind Book Club members the book live on Zoom.

Every month, Ted Prodromou and I choose a great book to read. On the fourth Thursday (today) at 2:30 p.m. ET, we meet to discuss the book and how we may apply its lessons to our businesses.

You don’t have to read the book to join and benefit from the conversation.

Here’s the Zoom link to join us.