Game in the Brain

Major projects at work is keeping me too busy to make anything worth posting and getting hits. Some major work and life changes, particularly in the Family Biz. There is so much work, I am afraid I might go on a Gaming Hibernation until things get better.

I am busy but I’m more bothered about my gaming style is really to alienating to regular gamers. Interestingly there is a lot of Role-Playing at work. We have a Call Center Representative Training Center, and Role-Playing is the BEST training tool for Agents prior to real exposure to clients.

I’ve been exposed to sales… a bit. I know how that game is played and have a Mental Model of how these things go about. My mental models allow me to communicate my techniques more effectively to the Trainers and those in the Team who are just learning “Biz Dev”.

I don’t really call my technique selling… its really an extension of my Problem Solving Techniques. What really happens is when I’m with a “Asset” is that I’m trying to guess his/her motives and look for economic synergies.

I can’t really say I get compensation for my effort when I create value for a company or someone. I’m being paid by the company to live a quality of life that meets my satisfaction and needs. I’m really more interested in the work… So much so that the how I see costs and margin is completely rational I can freely communicate my logic to anyone who would ask.

Basically: A company’s margin is determined by its goals. Its goals are to grow and to serve their clients better and make their job easier (through efficiency). Growing and Improving takes capital stock investment… MONEY. Money to pay for certification, accreditation, capital stock (equipment, software, infra), training, manpower etc. etc. that would increase Productivity, Quality, and Customer Satisfaction and Long Term Goals.

So calculating our margin is a simple matter of looking at what we need to be (GAP analysis) and how much we have to save to afford improvements. Eventually 100% of margin goes to Improvement, but before it becomes an improvement it is a Rainy Day fund: buffering against risk.

Compensation for our activities should only come from our salary, and salaries have to be within market norms. If it gets over inflated, market correction (this is when Something with an Inflated and unsustainable Value gets corrected and it crashes back to “earth”) occurs and Wham! 2400lb Dire Ape of Reality Bite Claw Claw Rends your AC 10 of Unrealistic Expectations.

I know it is a company’s biz to get away with as much Margin as possible, but I want LONG LONG range partnerships. Meaning I’m willing to set margins at a minimum relative to the length of potential biz… Oh and I don’t buy that “Potential Biz” excuse also, I’m not that Naive – I will do a financial evaluation (pros of having a wife in Finance and a gamer who loves problem solving) and a Lock-in and Exclusivity agreement, with internal check and balances tied in.

Do Biz like a Role-player who is grounded with Min-Maxing and not lost in trying to Munchkin. One key rule in Biz, as in life and games – Don’t do deal with people who treat people like crap, no matter how powerful and wealthy they are… if they treat their own people like crap how much worse do you think they will treat their suppliers/vendors/contractors… If you think being Powerful and Wealthy will keep these kinds of people Friendly (insert joke about selling some fantastic property).

Currently My situation is like one of my Traveller games: I am at the helm of a fledgling biz and I’m up against dangerous dangerous REALITY.

As for Market Correction, there is a lot of Monopolies/Artificial Scarcity etc in the World and Philippine Market. Open Source breaks the entire paradigm, especially when you combine it with 1.2M technical graduates per year, unsustainable population growth 2% per year, low wages, inelastic energy consumption, and shrinking food security. Companies forcing Licenses* on a country that cannot afford it because of incredible amounts of corruption and poverty are perpetuating the poverty (their CSR is nothing compared to the jobs that would have been created by the Open Source Solutions).

*its forcing licenses when one of the largest employers: the Gov’t are required to use License and Garnter’s Magic Quadran to prevent market forces from determining what is the most cost efficient solution for a country whose gov’t services are past breaking point due to population, lack on infra, corruption and poverty.