The Future Focus Blog

In his Keynote opening speech at today’s Future Focus event in London, Richard Farleigh opened by comparing business to a game of backgammon rather than a game of chess.

It has been well documented that Richard plays chess as a hobby and is an internationally-ranked player who has represented both Bermuda and Monaco at the Chess Olympics. His interest in chess began at an early age and was a joint winner of the 1978 NSW (Australia) junior chess championship.

But shining knight Farleigh made his name, not in chess, but in financial investments. Today he enjoys legend status in the financial community – inspiring Dragons’ Den rookies here in the UK. At age 34, he made enough money to retire in Monaco. Did his love for the black and white checkerboard help him in business? It would appear not.

His original view on business success was to approach his investments in the same way as he would play out a game of chess: purely analytically. His theory was that as in chess, if you make the right moves, you should end up winning. However he soon realised that it is in managing randomness (a strategy frowned upon in chess) you’re more likely to succeed in business as you maximise your chances of a clear win.

Farleigh calls this the ‘backgammon strategy’ and points out that often in business, the best ideas and strategy can end in failure whereas sometimes the worst plans can often reap the highest rewards. In Richard’s mind, it is this randomness that proves that actual outcome doesn’t necessarily equate with merit.

Richard isn’t the first person to draw the clear distinction between chess and backgammon. Why have the two games been always compared against each other, when chess is not a gambling game unlike backgammon?

I came across an article online which highlights the similarities and differences between the two games which raises a few interesting metaphors for business strategy. Here are the key take-outs:

• Without analytical thinking, game players would be lost in backgammon. Like chess players, they need to learn certain attacks and strategies to be able to win. That is why a lot of books about this game have already been written, for beginners, for intermediate gambling players, and even for the professional ones. There is so much to learn, and it hard to perfect the craft of this game, much like the game of chess.

• Certain strategies in this game can also be used in chess. Backgammon players may choose to be aggressive, which chess players also do in chess matches. Some people opt to hit a lot of their opponent’s checkers as soon as possible, and then make it to the homeboard fast. They may also raise the stakes quite too often. In chess, aggressive players are the ones who try to do a checkmate on their opponent early in the game.

• Another backgammon strategy that players use, which can be applicable to chess, is the passive strategy. Passive players in backgammon set up traps instead of attacking their opponents’ pieces as fast as they can. These types of players wait for their opponents to fall into their trap which is why the game speed is much slower. Chess players on the other hand are on passive mode when they seem not to attack the king directly, and scatter the pieces in a strategic set up on the board.

• Backgammon players may also influence or even force the opponent to move his pieces in their desired way. This they do by moving their own pieces to positions that would leave the other opponent little or no choice at all. As for their part, chess players also do this which results in the opponent sacrificing his queen or even getting himself in checkmate.

• The biggest difference between backgammon and chess is the factor that luck brings to those games. In backgammon, players rely heavily on their luck in casting the dice; however, afterwards, moving the checkers depends on the players’ skills. Meanwhile, chess players need very little luck to win games. They win almost totally because of their good strategies. If luck is any factor, then it may only come in the form of the opponent’s mistakes.

Having listened to Richard Farleigh’s keynote speech in which he humbly outlined his dotted career as a tech investor, he is an extremely charismatic speaker who has benefitted from years of diverse business experience. He has made millions of dollars after investing his own capital in British technology companies. The Rich 200 list estimated his personal wealth at around AU$160,000,000. He is ranked as the 876th on the Sunday Times Rich List 2006 with an estimated net worth of £66million. His management of randomness is a testament to his undisputed success.

I’ll hopefully be interviewing Richard later on today. Perhaps we’ll film it in the bar here in Westminster where I guess the round will be on him. Question is, will the chessman be paying by cheque, mate?

Richard’s book, Taming The Lion: 100 Secret Strategies for Investing is available on Amazon

Rax Lakhani is a social media consultant specialising in brand marketing. You can read his blog at raxraxrax.com or follow him on Twitter @raxlakhani