About Our Guest: Balazs Fogoly

Balazs Fogoly is the Managing Partner and Chief Play Officer of Ember Associates, a consulting company he founded 7 years ago. Together with his business partner, Zsolt Tokoli, he uses the game of poker to break open fixed adult mindsets in how to see and solve challenges.

In addition to running his consulting business, Balazs is an Adjunct Professor at INSEAD where he helps with teaching a course, called Your First 100 Days. In this popular roleplay-based course, MBA and EMBA participants have to make difficult decisions with scarce resources during the simulation of the first 100 days of an entrepreneurial acquisition.

He is also an alumnus of the INSEAD MBA program and the president of the school's Entrepreneurship Alumni Club in Singapore.

Although Balazs has spent over 10 years mostly in the dealing rooms of several banks, entrepreneurship has been in his blood throughout his career. He cut his teeth in entrepreneurship by founding Hungary’s first online hotel reservation business in 1996.

Recommended Links:

* Ember Associates' Website

* Balazs's LinkedIn Profile

Episode Synopsis

Learning Through Playing Games

‍When we play games, we often make mistakes, but it's part of the process and helps us improve. By embracing failure and viewing it as a learning opportunity, we can develop resilience and enhance our problem-solving abilities.

Learning decision-making skills is essential in both personal and professional life. Making sound decisions can greatly impact our success and help us achieve our goals. One interesting and effective way to develop decision-making skills is through playing poker. In a workshop designed to improve decision making, participants are taught how to play poker and then engage in practice rounds and a poker tournament.

During the workshop, the facilitator freezes the game every 15 to 20 minutes to discuss and introduce concepts related to decision making. These concepts can range from the psychology of decision making, such as biases and heuristics, to probabilities and system thinking. By observing the decisions made during the poker game, participants can see firsthand how these concepts apply and learn from them.

Why Use Poker to Teach Strategic Decision Making?

There are three main reasons why poker is a great game to use to teach decision making:

1) Playing poker is fun! Learning becomes much more enjoyable when we have fun doing it. Poker creates an unpredictable environment with risks and clear goals, which triggers "flow states". And when we're in flow, we learn better and are more productive. So using a game-like environment, like poker, helps us learn effectively.

2) Playing poker could be similar to being in a flight simulator. Just like pilots learn to fly in simulators before getting on an actual plane, poker provides a simulated environment for decision making. In real-life situations, the stakes might be too high to make mistakes. But in poker, we can practice and learn from our decisions without serious consequences.

3) Lastly, poker provides immediate feedback. Every action we take in the game has a direct impact, allowing us to see the consequences of our decisions right away. This helps us develop a high level of decision-making skills and problem-solving abilities.

A Fun Strategy Game vs. Gambling

One of the biggest "a-ha" moments that students experience in these gamified learning sessions is the realization that poker is not just a game of chance and luck, but rather a fun strategy game that requires skill and decision-making.

Many people are initially hesitant to try poker because they associate it with gambling. They assume that it is all about risking money and leaving everything up to chance.

However, once they attend the gamified sessions, they quickly understand that there is so much more to poker than meets the eye. It's a game that combines luck with strategy, where your skills and decisions play a significant role in determining the outcome.

Finding the Right Level of Risk

While it is crucial to have an appropriate level of risk when using poker as a learning tool, it doesn't necessarily mean playing high-stakes games.

By playing with a small amount of money, participants can introduce enough risk to make deliberate decisions. For example, a buy-in of just $10 can create a sense of accountability and engagement.

Another way to add risk and rewards to the learning experience is by setting clear goals. If certain objectives are not met, individuals may choose to withhold certain privileges, like drinking coffee for two weeks. On the other hand, when goals are achieved, they can reward themselves with a nice meal or a social outing.

The combination of risk and rewards in the game of poker, as well as in the learning process, helps individuals stay focused and motivated. It creates an environment conducive to the "flow state", where participants can fully immerse themselves and make the most out of the learning experience.

The "Sunk Cost" Fallacy

One example that can be observed in both poker and business is the "sunk cost" fallacy.

Beginner poker players often struggle to let go of a hand even when it becomes dangerous. Similarly, many businesses have fallen into the trap of continuing a project that no longer makes sense simply because they have invested time and resources into it.

By analyzing these situations in poker and connecting them to real-life examples in business, participants gain insights into their own decision-making patterns and learn how to overcome them.

Evaluating the Quality of Our Decisions

One of the most important aspects of decision making is the ability to evaluate the quality of our decisions. Just because we win a tournament or achieve a desired outcome doesn't necessarily mean we made the right choices.

It is essential to analyze our decisions from a different angle and seek feedback from the process itself. This is where gamification comes in. Through gamification, we can create an environment where we receive feedback on our decision-making skills and learn to make better choices.

Leveraging Gamification to Improve Team Decision Skills

Gamification, when used correctly, can be a powerful tool to improve decision-making skills within a team. However, it is important to understand that gamification is more than just creating a leaderboard and assigning scores.

It requires thought and intentionality. One effective method is to create a story arc around decision-making.

An example of that would be to use the concept of superpowers to engage participants. The workshop facilitator can create an alter ego and then build a superhero community. If someone makes a good decision but has a bad outcome, you can organize a mini game where volunteers act as lawyers and prosecutors, with the rest of the participants acting as the jury. This way, you are able to simulate a mock trial and let the audience decide on the fate of the decision-maker. By using gamification effectively, you can supercharge the learning and the teaching process.

Embracing Mistakes and Failure

One key takeaway from this discussion is the importance of embracing mistakes and failure. It's okay to "suck at something" in the beginning. The crucial part is to have a deliberate mindset and a determination to get better.

Learning from our mistakes, seeking feedback, and not being afraid to fail are essential components of personal growth and development. Whether it is struggling at a board game or facing challenges in other areas of life, we should remember that we can't be the best at everything.

Surrounding ourselves with people who challenge us and push us out of our comfort zone can help us continue to learn and improve.

So, let's play more games, make learning fun, and embrace the process of learning from our mistakes!

The Cerebrations Podcast
Hosted by Emil Mladenov | © 2024 Cerebrations, LLC
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