Business Checkmate: Techniques from a Chess Master CEO

What are the business techniques leaders can learn from a Chess Master CEO and how should they be thinking about the future of AI?  In this episode, Rich sits down with Alan Trefler, a chess master and the Founder and CEO of Pegaystems, the Enterprise Transformation Company that helps organizations Build for Change® with enterprise AI decisioning and workflow automation. Alan has earned multiple patents and overseen the expansion of Pega from start-up to a $1.3+ billion, global, public company with about 6,000 employees.  In this episode, he discusses the lessons he has taken from chess into business, and how he thinks companies should be strategically thinking about AI.  --------- Key Quotes:“The chess master will look and identify a set of candidates. They don't just stare at the position and magically figure out what to do. They say, ‘hey, here are three, four, five things that appear to be credible alternatives’ and then very methodically dig through them to figure out which might be the best one or what the holes are.” “In the four decades of Pega’s existence, we've done five complete technology shifts…. And every single one of those encompass the risk of doing something that was materially different. And there's always risk when you're doing something the first time, or you're doing something that is hard. Ultimately I think evaluating those risks is key, but you also need to think about the risk of not making a change.” “If you think of AI as an accelerant, as a way to, for example, tell you something about your business that you should make better and then you have the chance with your team to weigh in and don't necessarily do what the AI is telling you, but use the AI as a stimulus. Boy, you can use the AI as it exists now, and it can profoundly change the way a business works.” Practice Makes Profit: Increasing productivity and efficiency by scoring and categorizing your interactions.  League of Strategic Minds [listener question]:  What are the keys to running a good strategy offsite meeting?  Winsights: Ideas for Advantage:  Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, said, “When the rate of change inside a company is slower than the rate of change outside, the end is in sight. The only question is when.” Are you and your team making changes internally in your thinking, processes, resource allocation, and structure each and every quarter? -------- Time stamps:(00:44) Deep Dive Interview with Alan Trefler  (43:50 Practice Makes Profit  (45:48) League of Strategic Minds  (48:27) Winsights, Ideas for Advantage   --------- Links: Submit a question for Rich to the League of Strategic Minds: https://www.strategyskills.com/strategic-minds-podcast/  Alan Trefler on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alantrefler/ Pegasystems: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pegasystems/ Rich Horwath on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richhorwath/ Rich Horwath on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RichHorwath Rich Horwath on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richhorwathceo/ Strategic Thinking Institute Website: https://www.strategyskills.com/ Inc. Magazine’s Top 4 book for 2024: STRATEGIC  Book: https://www.amazon.com/Strategic-Direction-Advantage-Executive-Excellence/dp/1394215339 New executive development platform: Strategic Fitness System: http://www.Strategic-Fitness-System.com Sign up for Rich’s free Strategic Thinker Newsletter: https://www.strategyskills.com/subscribe/ [Subscribe to the Podcast]  On Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strategic-minds/id1748877976 On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/57wbZTtLJhznc4OBCe0OE6?si=c2c74bbb9b4340e0&nd=1&dlsi=f9d56ce5aafd4941