Where Career Meets Hobby: 10 Business Lessons I Learned From Miniatures
Believe it or not, gaming is a great place to develop the work and competitive ethics that will get you ahead once you enter the work world. Here are 10 lessons I learned from miniatures that are applicable to the business world.
1. Being a good winner is as important as being a good loser. Don't take a zero-sum approach.
In gaming: We all learn not to be sore losers. However, it's just as important not to be an arrogant winner. You're going to win some and you're going to lose some. How you act when you win is just as important as how you act when you lose. Be a jerk and you'll find the number of people willing to play with you will drop.
In business: There are tons of repeat interactions. Just remember that they way you act when you win, sets the tone for your next interaction and may influence how other people behave when they win. You can win and still make other people feel good about it.
2. Doing the things you dislike, well, matters.
In gaming: We all have some aspect of the hobby we don't particular enjoy doing. I hate cleaning figures. But having the discipline to do a good job makes a difference. Do a shoddy job of preparing your figure and it'll show up in the final product.
In business: The office environment is the same. You may not like certain aspects of the job, but taking a half assed approach can put a damper on otherwise stellar performance. Doing the little things well also paints you (no pun intended) as someone who can be counted on to excel, regardless of the task at hand.
3. You can do all the analysis you want, but at some point you just have to roll the dice.
In gaming: Some players suffer from analysis paralysis. They analyze this and that. They agonize over every little point, move, or angle ... but seem to have a hard time actually playing. Analysis helps decision making but at some time it's time to just play the game and see what happens.
In business: In business, you'll be awash in a sea of data and no matter how hard you dig or how long you look at the problem, you'll probably never have 100% confidence around the solution. Sometimes, you just have to take what you have, sometimes a gut instinct, and run with it.
4. Sometimes the dice just hate you.
In gaming: It happens. Despite your best preparations, you still blow a critical roll. Take it with a grain of salt and move on, hopefully you have a back up plan. Review what you did right and what you did wrong. Separate what you could have controlled vs. what was out of control.
In business: Shit happens ... to everyone. The worst thing that can happen is that you curl up in a fetal ball and do nothing. Pick yourself up and move on. If it was something that was under your control, make sure it doesn't happen again. If it was out of your control, analyze how you could have hedged against it and been better prepared for contingencies.
5. Broadening your horizons is vital to longevity.
In gaming: Don't get stuck in the rut of the same game, same army. Try a couple of things out. You'll be surprised at what you learn when you play an army that has different characteristics from yours. It's also refreshing to have a change of pace every now and then.
In business: If you become a one-trick pony, you run the risk of becoming redundant. Build multiple proficiencies and you'll discover mobility and flexibility when your job position disappears or when a new opportunity presents itself. Employees with broader skills sets are also more highly valued as they can be used in multiple capacities.
6. Research your opposition, current and future.
In gaming: It's the rare gamer who hasn't done at least a little bit of reading on the armies they routinely face. The more successful gamers are just as knowledgable about other armies as their own. The most successful gamers probably have a fair amount of experience playing and playing against a wide range of armies, list variations, and tactic. It only makes sense. The information is out there and who doesn't want to better know what your opponent is and is not good at doing.
In business: The same approach to due dilligence in the business world pays off. Whether you're researching business competitors, suppliers, or even potential partners, researching what they do, their limitations, and their fit with your business pays off in spades.
7. Develop those around you.
In gaming: This principle has always served me well. We all win when the hobby grows, whether it's new gamers and painters or simply better gamers and painters. I've always been involved in teaching people how to play or paint. For me, the games just got better when my opponents were better and all of the miniatures were painted.
In business: At work, I've always strived to help develop those around me so that the overall level of talent and capability in the group grows. This doesn't mean that you have to invest a whole lot of time into this. You just have to be smart about how and when you do it. This also gets you noticed and rewarded.
8. Remember, this is a game. Keep your perspective.
In gaming: Really it is. We have all seen that gamer who goes postal over a bad game or spends so much time with the hobby that other things (like family) start to suffer. Sometimes we have to take a step back and look at how our hobby time fits into the rest of our life, not how the rest of our life revolves around the hobby.
In business: I could make the same argument about work, with the exception that a lot of people don't have the luxury of walking away from a job, though some of us to. However, it's still worth mentioning that we often see people who are so wrapped up in the job, that their family and health suffer ... sometimes badly. Remember, once you lose family and health, you can't get that back. You CAN always bounce back from a career.
9. Share what you do with the family.
In gaming: Your family may not be as into the hobby as you are, but if you share it with them, then at least they'll have some understanding of what you do.
In business: Share what you do in the office with your family too. They might not completely get it, but it does give them some understanding of what goes on when you come home happy, down, or indifferent. If you have kids, this is a great hobby to get them involved in.
10. Creativity counts, often in small doses?
In gaming: It doesn't take a total conversion to make a miniature really stand out. Sometimes it's just a small swap, a creative base, a unique color scheme. These aren't necessarily huge, paradigm changing ideas, but they must be executed well.
In business: In the office, there are literally hundreds of opportunities to be creative every day, some big and some small. Often, it's the small ones that are within our scope and purview to execute on immediately, but just like that miniature, it needs to be executed well and it will stand out and differentiate you from your peers. On a side note, when I go to interviews, I take along a well painted miniature that I can pull out and use as a prop to talk about almost any topic.
