It’s Like Jeopardy: What Game Theory Has to Do with Work Culture

Design thinkers are encouraged to build what Roger L. Martin called “knowledge systems” by exposing themselves to a variety of stimulus — not only to learn, but to make connections, inspire, and apply. This is important because it sets the conditions for innovation. Steven Johnson’s Where Good Ideas Come From specifically calls out exaptation (taking inspiration from one area and applying it to another) and collision (magic that comes from bringing different perspectives/expertise together), perfectly summing it up with “chance favors the connected mind.” This becomes second nature with practice. With a bunch of small antennae constantly pinging, we find ourselves synthesizing new bits of knowledge all the time. Revelations amusingly present themselves in the most unexpected ways.

Which leads to this discussion: What does game theory have to do with culture? More than one expects. This article about the game theory behind James Holzhauer’s epic winning streak on Jeopardy yields multiple insights when it comes to company culture:

You have to be in the game. If you aren’t intentionally managing company culture, you are more than just forfeiting the chance to gain; you are actually risking a loss. Culture happens no matter what. If you don’t leverage it as an asset, it will deteriorate to a liability.