BRX Pro Tip: 4 Business Lessons from Playing Poker
Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you, Lee, you know that I have long maintained that there’s a great deal that you can learn from mob movies in terms of leadership and running an organization, but it’s your assertion that there’s plenty to learn from playing poker.
Lee Kantor: Yeah. Playing poker and lots of games, especially games of strategy like poker. I’ve been reading a lot of books about poker and decision making, and this kind of thinking I thought was very transferable to business. So, four things, four lessons, maybe from playing poker.
Number one, calculate odds and manage risks. That’s so important in poker because you are constantly having to make decisions with limited information, just like you are in business all the time. So, you have to be able to kind of understand the probability of something happening or not happening and take the risk accordingly. Number two, it’s important to identify your edge. What’s your superpower that you have and lean into that, especially during challenging times. Number three, you have to manage your resources. Without a bankroll or a cash flow, you can’t play the game. So, manage your resources wisely. And number four, focus on your decision quality, not just the outcomes. And this is where it takes a lot of self-awareness and discipline. Sometimes, you can make the right call, but things don’t go your way. And other times you just got lucky. Knowing the difference is critical.