The general application of the concept of the power move.

The power move is defined by the amount of analysis and thinking behind each chess move. This concept has very broad applications.

Allow me to use an example from my past life. Directly after my appointment as group project director of a multinational development and construction company, I was brought to a briefing with my contract manager. His job was to show me in financial terms the impact of each decision that I made at that level. For instance if I was to express an interest in a project, he showed me how much resources and man hours would be allocated by the corporation to investigate my interest. I cannot remember the exact figures but I think it showed something like RM80k plus in the first week in terms of allocation of staff and other resources every time I said that a project looks interesting.

So the purpose of that briefing was to inculcate the lesson for us at the director level not to simply express interest without first deeply thinking through the issues before each move. And it was explained in terms of dollars and cents. That is also called power move.

Now obviously the higher up the management chain you are the cost implications are different. Mistakes on the lower levels are not so impactful. But mistakes at the leadership level has very broad ramifications and financial implications.

Do look at how our leaders are making decisions lately. And I mean on a National level. You saw the implications for a single corporation. Are they not rolling out National projects and then rolling it back in because no one seems to have thought through the issues, the implications? What are the costs on a National level to do that?

Now this is what you can learn from chess. Understand the concept of the power move and apply it later in life. Think through everything that needs to be thought through before you implement anything. Before you make your move.

But surely if we are to teach this concept from chess we need leaders who also can make good decisions and not act like gangsters. They have struggled for 30 years and we are going backwards. So what kind of decisions are they making?

This is chess. We call it a mental sport. We are supposed to be building thinkers. But what are we doing instead when our Country is crying out for solutions to our never ending man made problems?

What and where are our power moves? Does it merely lie in developing more and more sophisticated ways of installing the back doors? Of making questionable incomes and finding new ways to intimidate other officials, parents and players?

Is that the way?

Read this again. Here.

What would you like to learn from chess? What would you want your child to learn from chess?