Chess or Checkers ?

I was speaking with one of the Vice Presidents that work at the university where I am employed, and he asked me if leaders play chess or checkers. I thought for a moment and suggested that I thought leaders play chess. I said this for two reasons; first I have an internal bias towards chess, because I love the game. My second reason was because of my basic understandings of the game. Checkers is a simple game where all the pieces are the same, they move the same way, and are essentially treated all identically. Chess is a more complex game that is made up of unique pieces, which move in differing ways and have various roles in the game. A good chess player cannot look at all pieces as the same. One must understand the strengths and abilities of each piece in order to win the game.

The Vice President I was speaking with indicated that he had been told that leaders play checkers because there is only one goal in mind, and that mangers play chess because they must manage a vast array of pieces and know what is happening at all times. While I believed he was incorrect in his assessment and told him so, I had a thought following our discussion. First, all leaders must be able to manage people, any leader will manage or supervise a least some people (A CEO manages a team of Vice Presidents, etc.), but not all mangers are good leaders. In the same way, most chess players can play checkers, but not all checker players know how to play chess. In the end however, I think the noteworthy fact is this: Whether we’re talking about managers or leaders, they’re both just playing games. Something to think about…