The game is an entity in itself. Not a platform for theory or a methodology for winning.
That's what those responsible for the next generation fail to teach them in daycare and grade school. The result is lost generation after lost generation when it comes to finding, holding and moving on to ways to make a very good living.
In contrast, the embrace of that hardened reality - the game - is exactly what makes the James Patterson publishing franchise an over-the-top succcess.
The Patterson novel "Pop Goes The Weasel" is a prime example of that. Geoffrey Shafer, who turns out to be a serial killer, sees his world in terms of a game. In order to identify who the miscreant is and to struggle to outwit the player's mastery, detective Alex Cross has to create a game mindset.
Incidentally, some attribute media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's sustained success to his studying at Oxford when game theory had been a dominant ideology. The context is one-dimensional. It's all the game.
The novel ends with Shafer's survival. He can start a fresh game because international law enforcement assumes he is dead. In the early tech world the version of that was this: Success in a startup allowed one to go on to play the next game. That was what it was supposed to be about. Fame? Wealth? Those aren't what counted.
Of course, this concept that it's all a game might seem too harsh for a professional class whose nation's ethos had been God, Country and Coca-Cola.
Well, it is, at least for public consumption. No applicant to law school could champion the game in the personal essay. In America, the court of public opinion is still shaped by those post-WWII values. In the court of law, the jury would turn against lawyers describing reality in terms of a game. Last night's episode of "Law & Order SVU" was intended to be raw because it was dealing with the game of fantasy sex. The rules are clear. But the fallout brutal, for all in the loop. However, the game is legal so it will go on.
In early education, instead of bringing out the manufactured toys and someone else's games, savvy caretakers and teachers can nudge the next generation to identify what games are going on in the setting. How they can gain leverage. And how to define winning and losing.
All that, of course, would have to be positioned and packaged in the language of management consulting. Words shape thoughts and thoughts can result in action. That's why public relations is a growth industry. Some speculate the economy has become one of scarcity. It takes, well, unique game-playing to get a decent piece of the pie. But, embedded values, at least in the U.S., make such language verboten.
That could be loosening up, though. A sign of changing times is that much of Law.com is making transparent the game. For instance, there is a detailed Go-To list for everything in the game. Here is the Go-To for schools firms favor.
More career coaches are guiding clients to 1) find their game and 2) ferret out the critical moves 3) be humble enough to do immediate course correction 4) build aggressively on success. Come to think of it, that seems to mirror the strategy and operation of top law firms.
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