Building Trust with Games
My childhood memories
Lee la versión en español aquí.
Our childhood is usually a collection of happy memories, moments where there are no concerns and everything is bliss. In other words, it is a stage in life full of energy and curiosity.
There’s no better time in life for learning, right?
It is an essential time in our lives that shapes us as people and as citizens. And it is our parents, grandparents, teachers and many other adults around us who play the role of mentors.
They show you right from wrong regardless of the temptations — of which there are many — but we are not able to identify them until a choice needs to be made. The question is about choosing the right thing to do or the most convenient thing regardless of the consequences. This takes me back to a memory from my childhood…
We had decided to re-enact a game my mom had participated in at work. The exercise consisted of two oil companies, one represented by my sister and the other one represented by me. We took turns, each one representing a day in which we had to decide, individually, the price of a barrel of oil for that day.
Related post: A Pencil and a Lesson
The sales for each company were calculated based on the price each participant had set daily. After a few rounds, my mother allowed us occasionally to negotiate the price between the two companies before making a decision.
If we both managed to reach an agreement, we would receive good revenues, although they were not the highest we could have obtained. The first time we negotiated, we both abided by the agreement. The second time, my sister broke the pact we had verbally agreed on. She made a much higher profit, and I received a much lower one compared with that of previous rounds.
From that round on, I stopped trusting her word and we never reached an agreement again. When the game ended, my sister was happy because she had won and I was disappointed by what had happened. My mom summarized the game, emphasizing the loss of trust. Nevertheless, my sister kept saying “I won” or “Yes, but I won.”
My mother, a very wise woman, showed us what we would have won if we had managed to reach an agreement and had honoured each negotiation. The amount was far greater than what we had won individually, 4 or 5 times greater.
In the end, if we had trusted each other, been honest and honoured our agreements, both of us would have benefited.
“Fair Play” would have been much better than surrendering to the temptation of generating more profits but failing each other.
This lesson, along with the one I shared with you in “A Pencil and a Lesson”, left an impression on my life. By using two simple games, my mom was teaching me about many things that would help me many years later. She spoke about empathy, active listening, respecting any point of view different from mine, about building trust, and about teamwork.
I try to convey all these concepts in my lectures to my students and to all my co-workers. These concepts nourish social life and collective work.
How important our early education can be, right? The words of our elders echo deeply within us. These moments that once seemed fleeting are actually rooted within us.
Related post: 4 Repeated Patterns of Entrepreneurial Families
These moments are so simple that they might even go unnoticed. However, some people tried to avoid this by teaching values that live on within us, and that will remain in the people to whom we teach them and in those they teach, and so on.
Would you like to share with us a childhood story in which your parents, a teacher or any adult gave you a valuable lesson?
Posted by Santiago Bermúdez Baglietto (santiago.baglietto@wolox.com.ar)
