Bridge and Leadership

Priyanka Gulati

I work with business leaders in India advising and helping them think, strategize and execute on various areas. Recently I have started learning bridge and realised that the game is a great lesson on leadership. Here are a few of my learnings.

1. Who is a good bridge player?

   As my coach explained a good player can play with any cards, he/she makes the best of the cards dealt, any joker can play with best cards; but it requires experience and competency to win with any hand. Similarly, leadership is about solving challenges, achieving the unheard and motivating the masses.

2. Partnership is critical:

   Trust is everything in bridge, getting the right rapport with the partner is the key to the game. A great leadership lesson as to form partnership and ensuring complementary strengths have to come together in synergistic ways for great outcomes.

3. Goal – What is your purpose, what direction you want to take?

   Showing optimism, positivity and reinforcing a bigger sense of purpose is the role of the leader. In this respect, a big goal acts as a compass.

   In bridge I learnt is that you are better off to bid properly and lose than underbid and win.

   Leaders also need to have big goals in order to provide direction for others. Without these, there is a danger of falling into an activity trap, being very busy but ultimately not achieving anything.

   The goal should be uncomfortable - Working at the edge drives performance and continually increases the size of your comfort zone.

   The inverse is also true: spending too much time in your comfort zone causes it to shrink and negatively impacts performance. Likewise, a leader who is not pushing themselves and their team outside their comfort zone is likely to be ill-prepared for the next big challenge.

4. Think and Plan.

   Plan is what get things done. Planning suit by suit on tricks to be won/lost is critical before the game starts.

   Similarly, there is little point in just setting a goal at the beginning of the year and then expecting miracles. There must be a sense of achievement and progress along the way.

5. Execution
   ·       Play to your strength and not the opponent’s
   ·       Trap your highest card and not play it early on in the game if the rest of the cards are low. Don’t cash in your ace first.
   ·       Record the clues from partner and opponents Watch the game like a hawk – count count count, be totally updated
   ·       Sacrifice for winning
   ·       In a situation when you are sure to win the hand- be pessimistic, and in a dreary situation be optimistic and take your    chances
6. Coaching is oxygen.

   Bridge players typically learn alone. However, those who are striving for improved performance usually have a training coach/partner who pushes them to do better. By pushing each other, both achieve greater levels of performance.

   This is important for leaders too. While leaders need to be independent and resilient, having peer support is vital. It is like oxygen, fueling the performance of both.

To summarize : For Bridge and to be a good leader-

• Set your goals, be uncomfortable in achieving them.
• Plan your play
• Think, Act and Measure.
• Invest in a coach. No matter how good you are, this always helps

Wishing you the very best in bridge and as a leader!!

Disclaimer : All opinions are entirely those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the BridgeFromHome Team.