How Life Imitates Chess by Garry Kasparov

Author:Garry Kasparov [Kasparov, Garry]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2010-08-10T07:00:00+00:00

All Change Comes at a Cost

When measuring imbalances, you should consider the elements of your operation not just in relation to your rivals’, but also in relation to one another. In chess we talk about having harmony in our position. Are your pieces working together? Is your material developed in accordance with your strategic goals? The difficulty of achieving successful coordination increases with the number of assets. The corporate megamergers of the past decade illustrate this well. Time Warner and AOL came together in a deal of record proportions in 2001, and investors are now considering separating the companies again. Bigger isn’t always better, especially if it comes at the cost of coordination.

The chess bishop can move only diagonally, meaning each bishop spends its entire life on the squares of one color, white or black. Each player starts the game with two bishops, and the “bishop pair” can attack or defend any square on the board. When they work side by side, two bishops can be a devastating attacking force. This is why when one bishop is captured, often the other is greatly diminished as well. The remaining bishop can target only half the squares on the board, so your opponent knows he is safe on those squares, at least from the bishop. The combined power of the bishop pair is far greater than the sum of its parts. Similarly, two companies might combine to be worth far more than they were before if they can work together in harmony. Or, as in the case of Time Warner and AOL, they might turn out to be worth less because of conflicts.

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