Choices Create Change — Episode 12: Chess, Not Checkers (Playing the Long Game in Leadership)

Most leaders play checkers — fast moves, quick reactions, immediate gratification. The best ones play chess. In this episode, Bobby Mink of Choice Consulting and Management unpacks the book Chess Not Checkers by Mark Miller and Randy Gravitt, and shows you how to stop reacting and start leading the long game. Bobby walks through the five moves that separate chess leaders from checkers leaders: bet on leadership, act as one, win the heart, excel at execution, and it's your move. Along the way he digs into setting the pace for your team, hiring the heart (not just the résumé), building your bench before a crisis hits, creating real clarity, celebrating the 90% that's going right, and surrounding yourself with the right people in the right seats. Whether you're running a company, leading a department, or guiding a family, you'll walk away with a more intentional, more thoughtful way to lead — plus plenty of practical questions to ask yourself this week.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Chess Not Checkers

00:31 Bet on Leadership

02:25 Building the Leadership Team

04:08 Setting the Pace as Leaders

08:00 The Importance of Serving

12:16 Growing the Organization

17:01 Act as One: Creating Clarity

22:07 Building Community and Culture

24:59 Winning the Heart of Employees

25:28 Excelling at Execution

27:54 It's Your Move: The Right People in Your Life

In this episode: • Why great leaders play the long game instead of chasing quick wins • Setting the pace with HEART — Hunger, Expectation, Accept responsibility, Respond, Think • How to "hire the heart" and build your bench before you're in crisis mode • Creating clarity so everyone knows what winning looks like • Focusing on the 90% that's going right, not just the 10% that's wrong • Winning the heart of your people to build an unstoppable culture • Getting the right people in the right seats — and when it's time to let someone go "When you get the heart, you get the whole person." — Mark Miller

Learn more about Choice Consulting and our services at ChoiceConsultingMan.com/Podcast.

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