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Your Next Five Moves Summary 

To be sure, the full title of the book is ‘Your Next Five Moves, Master the Art of Business Strategy’. Written by Patrick Bet-David with Greg Dinkin, think of this book as a coach’s playbook for his players. In order to accomplish their goals, this book equips players with the necessary mentality and skills.

Frequently, chess-masters are similar to successful businesspeople in that they are able to think many moves ahead of the game. For instance, they anticipate their opponents reactions against their actions.

Hence, by having an awareness over you next five moves you are able to predict your opponent’s strategy. Eventually, you can devise your own strategies, not being influenced by the emotions of the battlefield with practice.

Move 1: Master Knowing Yourself

 

Generally, the premise of the first move is to gain self-awareness to perceive your future actions / responses. To explain, have a clear picture of who you want to be?

Even so, it sounds like a loaded question, so lets break it down.

For the most part, consider your strengths and personality and ask yourself where the end destination is. Clearly, this is where you are most happy.

Why?

Thus, this vision you have needs to be strong enough to withstand the sacrifice / pain you are going to undertake. In order to achieve this you need to sustain a drive.

Granted that everyone has a list of painful memories filled with haters (who despise you for whatever reason). Accordingly, utilise how bad you want to see them suffer as a source of motivation. Owing to your dreams, use the thought of getting revenge over them as a fuel reserve.

Additionally, you can emulate the actions of your hero by asking yourself:

What would they have done in this situation?

Henceforth, the effort you put in achieving your dreams must directly correlate with its scale, so it comes into fruition. Likewise, the person you want to be rests on the principles which you choose to live by. Truly, these choices should align with your behaviour.

Factors that Motivate You

 

Regarding effort, you should know what motivates you.

There are 4 types of factors that push drive:

1. Advancement – Achieving targets. Focus on what is next.
2. Individuality – Personal, lifestyle choices.
3. Madness – Competition.
4. Purpose – Your legacy.

 

On a similar note, boredom or declining talent / end product are signs that your drive should be questioned. With attention to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs there are 4 levels of why. Provided that you need to know where you are currently at, you should attempt to reach the next level.

• At the most basic level is survival. This incorporates possessing the bare essentials. Alongside paying bills and having a roof over your head.
• Next is status centring on material prestige. Consequently, you have bragging rights over your possessions and are willing to settle down.
• Above this is freedom, whereby you can do activities that lead to inner fulfilment.
• Finally, purpose denotes your impact on history, as you want to embed your name into it.

 

Moreover, after identifying your strengths decide whether you want to be an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur.

Entrepreneurs = Build their own company, governing the direction.

Intrapreneur = Works within the company, rising in positions.

In brief, strategize how you want to build your wealth. Whenever you want an advantage over your market adversaries, find one specialty you do differently.

 

Move 2: Master the Ability to Reason

 

On the whole this section is dedicated to producing the methodology to confront decisions head on. Given that there is no universal answer to your problems, what matters is how you navigate this uncertainty. Above all, your ability to process information and make the necessary response will save you in all cases.

Notably, the most effective processors take ownness over their action, using the word ‘I’ when analysing situations.

In contrast to the masses, they attempt to solve the root problem, as opposed to blaming someone else or running.

Refining your processing powers requires:

1. Choosing decisions when you have data accessible to you
2. Analysing the different choices and issues
3. Visualizing the effect of your choices

 

How to Act in a Crisis

 

Formerly, how a leader acts after a crisis is of utmost importance, as they can prolong / shorten it. Significantly, their poise, choice of strategy, whether they downplay or exaggerate crisis – all influence their employees. During a crisis saying nothing or making no choice is the incorrect route.

Generally, a talented processor is characterized by:

• Not being focused on whether they are correct or not
• Asking more questions when inspecting data
• Enjoying when challenges appear
• Curiosity and eagerness to learn
• Their inability to make excuses
• Prefer to fully solve problems
• Prevent future problems
• Negotiating with others

 

As mentioned above having a system is a must for decision making. For if you view problem solving as an opportunity to win, your dissection process reveals the correct answer. Additionally, you must account for the factors that are within your control, rather than those external.

 

In order to determine your root problem answer the following table:

 

 

In conclusion, you need to know when to go on the offensive and defensive.

Offensive = Opportunities for you to generate money and grow your business

Defensive = When you troubleshoot issues, preventing loss and stagnancy

 

Move 3: Master Building the Winning Team

 

First thing to remember when you are trying to attract talent is to ask yourself:

Why should the other person want to work with me?

It must be remembered that different people are at different stages of their life. Therefore, they would seek various benefits, which constantly involve re-negotiation to retain them in the long-run.

Usually, they want to see how you benefit others or whether your character would help them thrive in the workplace.

Likewise, finding a trusted advisor takes prominence in helping you cover your weaknesses. For example, if you are an introvert hire an extroverted trusted advisor, who excels at communication. Ordinarily, these are individuals who hold the same values as you, but with a different temperament.

The last thing we need is another ‘yes man’.

In addition, the trusted advisor typically has the following good qualities:

1. They are a capable processor
2. Have the capacity to think multiple moves ahead
3. Calm in tense situations
4. Fiercely loyal, carrying over no personal agenda
5. Challenges you and your weaknesses

 

All things considered, a viable method of getting people to work for you is long-term equity. Thereupon, the condition of ownership requires the person to receive shares if the goal is hit. Subsequently, this fosters more emotional investment in the company.

Nevertheless, do not instantly give them equity, as it must be earned.

You need to do the following to retain talent:

Employees want to be compensated for their efforts.

They want to know that their company is making an impact.

Outstanding individuals wish to have a say in company matters.

Staff want the opportunity to rise within the ranks.

Amongst their peers they want to be distinguished.

They wish to be evaluated based on a firm rule set.

 

Firing Someone

 

On the whole, the abilities of the employees are not static / fixed, as they endlessly transform. Hence, you should set clear expectations and do not compromise these standards.

Yet, fire them gently if they continuously breach company policy or do not fit with the ethos. For instance, provide them with a fair warning beforehand and a chance to improve. This makes it seems as though they had enough chances to make a change.

In short, no one likes the process of firing someone. Neither employer or employee enjoy this process. Usually, it is beneficial to tread softly via getting right to the point. This is to prevent you from justifying your point or to drag out the time.

Furthermore, acknowledge the recipients feeling, making it seem like a human decision. Compound on this by talking about the recipient’s strengths. After all, you should alleviate the stress of the job hunting process by providing a recommendation.

 

Personal and Company Values

 

Essentially, your company is defined by a set of principles and values, which foster a company culture. In other words what values do you advocate / not tolerate. As an illustration, the value of understanding, whereby you accept people for their differences, is desirable.

Correspondingly, when the time comes you need to demonstrate the values you stand for. You have to abide by the rules you set, allowing no room for hypocrisy. Thence, you now have the authority to enforce the rules.

Rather than over-generalizing your approach to business relations, you should specifically think; ‘what motivates this person?’

Ideally, you need to apply the love languages of people, as it reflects what makes them tick. Delve into what motivates people, whether it be:  affirmative words, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch.

 

Entrepreneurial Love Languages

 

Overall, there are 9 types of love languages for entrepreneurs that motivate people to work.

Entrepreneurial Love Language	Details
We Need You	The role of this person is clearly explained and they shine at their given role. Their responsibilities are vital to the well being of the company.
Recognition	Identify people for their achievements and reward them. Ensure they are recognised among their peers.
Praise: 3 Different Types	Privately commend the person for their effort. Alternatively, publicly praising someone in front of the rest of the staff, incentivizes people’s effort.  You can also praise someone behind their back, producing a reputation for them.
Clear Direction	Tell the person exactly what to do, almost micromanaging them. As long as they fulfil your specification they feel accomplished.
Visions	Outstanding leaders sell a vision of the future, being able to see ahead.
Dream	Similarly, people are working towards their own specific dream, so need to know how the work benefits them.
Involvement	Certain individuals seek to participate in the company, as they want their decisions to hold weight. Essentially, their feedback needs to be listened to and processed.
Challenge	Uniquely, some individuals require a challenge, to push beyond their established limits, to feel successful.
Listening	Simply just listen to the other person by making time for them.

 

 

Move 4: Master Strategy to Scale

 

More often than not, businesses develop in one of two ways:

Linear Growth – Entails steady gains, accomplishing tasks before the deadlines, slowly expanding customers and networks. Together with refining your systems, increasing your efficiency, you reach agreements with new vendors to increase sales.

Exponential Growth – Explosive development to reach a leader’s vision. Frequently, they launch innovative campaigns, whereby the promotion offered is ground-breaking.  On the positive side they encourage leaders to develop. To enumerate, the owner delegates responsibilities to future leaders via codifying knowledge of their systems. Besides, hoarding knowledge will only disrupt the growth of the company. Eventually, the company can run itself without the owner, a healthy sign of a valuable company.

Ideally, you spend time cultivating traits on both sides, for long term business sustainability.

Another key point is to be aware of how to empower lions within your company. On balance, lions are defined by their ability to create the most revenue and headaches. Conversely, it is beneficial for you to apply more pressure on them, as they thrive when beyond their limits. Despite the fact that they apply more pressure to others, they are more demanding due to their hefty standards.

In any event the most important facet of business are your employees. Straightaway you should garner momentum and maintain it for growth.  In essence, you can achieve momentum by acknowledging your strengths and move forward without compromising quality.

 

Improving Momentum

 

Albeit a prerequisite of speed is to make your operations faster. Namely, identify the steps you can shorten to streamline efficiency. Indeed, you will need to test the new process and adapt based on the results.

For the purpose of locating areas you can streamline, here are the different areas of speed:

1. Functioning Speed. Normally, this denotes the support systems in place for your staff such as training.
2. Processing Speed. Ordinarily people have a long sales funnel as part of the selling process. But there exists cost-effective avenues to shorten the timeframe with the same end goal.
3. Expansion Speed. Specifically, how quickly you move into new growth opportunities.
4. Timing Speed. To surmise, your reaction to the timing of others.

 

Even with all this momentum you need to avoid taking shortcuts, keeping your original integrity.

 

In contrast to people, numbers do not lie. Compelling evidence suggests using data to evaluate the shortcomings of your employees. This bridges the gaps between their claims and the harsh reality in sales.

Often overlooked, you can examine the data to see the trends and problems your company faces. After your strategy becomes stagnant, adapt it. Immediately, maintain your paranoia since other hungry competitors would exploit your weaknesses.

Business is a battlefield.

Nonetheless, it is good practise for you to visualize the worst possible outcomes, so you can alleviate them in advance. Inevitably when you encounter defeat, accept the small loses, being willing to temporarily surrender.

 

Move 5: Master Power Plays

Certainly, in every industry you will confront a goliath. Of course, you’ll be afraid of them but they are inherently difficult to overthrow. Needless to say, you have to work 10 times as harder, beyond your limit, to defeat them.

Since Goliath’s lose touch with modern techniques due to their history of success, feasibly they can be dethroned. However, if you don’t control the narrative the world dictates what you represent. Thus, be open to self-promotion to control how you portray yourself.

But, here is a list of methods which you can employ to beat Goliath.

• Know your weakness
• Find Goliath’s weakness
• Master 3 things you can do better
• Don’t be Goliath
• Specialize
• When you’re small, make yourself appear bigger
• Keep a low profile initially
• Move quickly
• Partner with competitors that share an enemy
• Study history
• Let other competitors wear your opponents out

 

Everyone in your team should be in union with the goal of overthrowing a goliath. Logically, people need to be held accountable for the effort they put in.

 

Negotiating

In summary, effective sales relies on conviction. Subsequently, your personal attitude towards the product is visible and infectious on the audience.

To repeat, if you don’t believe in your product no one else will.

Although, a successful negotiation is contingent upon leverage. In this case, frame your pitch in terms of the recipient’s benefit, to trick them into believing that they won. Forthwith, minimize the risks they face and they are more likely to opt in.

Additionally, it helps if you appear to be receiving the short end of the stick.

 

The ‘Help the Introvert’ Scale

Your Next Five Moves 

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By all means, if you want to develop the CEO mindset, purchase the book here.

What is more, check out this article, if your end goal is to reduce your working hours.