This week television history is in the making. I don’t mean Don Draper’s ménage à trois on Mad Men but rather the end of the toughest tournament in game show history: the Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades. Nine of the best players from the show’s thirty-year history are competing for a $1 million grand prize. I am tuning in with especially keen interest—I am a former Jeopardy! champion. Now I am in business school, and as I've been watching I've realized that Jeopardy! teaches us much about success in business.
Move Fast, Succeed Often
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Jeopardy! champions competing in the Battle of the Decades (© 2014 Sony Pictures Digital Productions Inc.)
Timing Is Everything
Daily Doubles—questions that enable players to double their money in one shot—are golden moments to catch the leader or pad a lead. But far too often contestants who are losing badly make a small wager on a Daily Double, keeping them out of contention even if they respond correctly. Once in a while a player realizes the true value of Daily Doubles and uses them effectively. This happened in the tournament when a savvy contestant bet $10,000 on one and effectively sealed the outcome halfway through. He determined that if he had missed, there would have been enough time to recapture the lead, but there might not be another chance to put the game out of reach. Managers and entrepreneurs must identify the Daily Doubles for their businesses, the growth opportunities that seldom arise (sales channels, acquisitions), and seize them if the reward outweighs the risk.
A Little Luck Never Hurt
Jeopardy! champions often benefit from lucky breaks. I’ve seen a few come from behind in Final Jeopardy because the leader messed up the math and made the wrong wager. During my own run, fortune smiled on me in a big way. Trailing badly in the second round, I got a Daily Double and bet everything. The question: “Edmund Spenser coined the term prothalamion for a poem that celebrates the impending one of these events.” I froze—I had no idea. Desperate, I blurted out the first word that came to mind: “wedding.” Correct! I let out a huge breath and steamed ahead with the next question. Just like Jeopardy! contestants, businesses have to get strategy right but sometimes they need to get lucky, too.