Business Strategy is a Game

Napoleon Bonaparte was not only a master strategist but also an avid chess player. He applied game theory to warfare—anticipating opponents’ moves, using deception, and optimizing resources. Like a chess master, he valued positioning, coordinated movements for decisive strikes, and made calculated sacrifices for long-term advantage. He even deployed psychological warfare, spreading misinformation to manipulate his rivals. His ability to think in terms of long-term outcomes and precise timing turned battles into dynamic games, securing his dominance and legendary reputation.

Serious Games

“Life is a game. Play it.” – Mother Teresa

Life itself is full of serious games—scenarios where strategy, choices, and uncertainty determine outcomes.

• War, as seen in Ukraine, is a high-stakes game of strategy, resources, and unpredictability, where consequences ripple across the globe.
• Careers are games of scarcity and persistence, where individuals must navigate opportunities, effort, and setbacks to succeed.

Every move we make triggers reactions from imperfect systems or unpredictable people. Success isn’t guaranteed, and randomness always plays a role. Whether we notice it or not, we are all competing for attention, resources, and outcomes.

Business as a Game

“Business is a game, played for fantastic stakes, and you’re in competition with experts. If you want to win, you have to learn to be a master of the game.” – Sidney Sheldon

At its core, a game consists of players, rules, scarcity, choices, feedback loops, and outcomes. Business is no different. Across fields as varied as nuclear strategy, public health, and poker, game theory has offered powerful lessons in decision-making.

Seth Godin, in This is Strategy, highlights why business strategy is best understood as a game. Here are some of his insights:

• You’re playing a game whether you realize it or not. Awareness helps you play better.
• The outcome doesn’t always depend on how badly you want to win.
• Every player sees the game differently.
• Some games are easy to quit; others last a lifetime.
• Not all players follow the same rules—or pursue the same goals.
• No game stays the same, because playing the game changes it.
• Short-term wins can lead to long-term losses (and vice versa).
• Sometimes the best way to win is to help others succeed.
• Every big game is made of smaller games.
• Many games are unfair—and some cannot be won.
• The skills that matter in one game may be useless in another.
• Some games get easier as you win, others get harder.
• You don’t always have to play the game offered to you.
• Multiplayer games often masquerade as two-player games.
• We spend too much time figuring out how to win the current game instead of deciding which game to play.

Connecting the Dots

By connecting seemingly different domains—war, life, and business—we gain deep insight: strategy always involves choices, trade-offs, uncertainty, and evolution.

As Seth Godin puts it:
👉 “You win by trying. And failing. Test, try, fail, measure, evolve, repeat, persist.”

In other words: keep playing, keep learning, and have fun.