life is good

I was sitting in the lunch room playing speed chess with another developer one day when the CEO of our company walked in.

To my surprise, he said, "Hey guys, mind if I play winner?"

Despite the insane demands of his job, he was actually pretty good at chess.

When I asked him how he found time to keep his skills sharp, he said, "Oh, I don't. I only play once or twice a year. My uncle was a competitive chess player, and he just gave me a single piece of advice to follow: every time your opponent moves, slow down and try to understand the game from their perspective - why did they make that move?"

I've since made a habit of doing this. And this habit has helped in negotiations and other adversarial situations as well.