Why game theory matters for business (quote)

A few weeks ago, I spoke to college students and business professionals in India about game theory.

Here is a picture of me from one of the talks:

Accepting trophy from NMIMS in Mumbai–said to be “one of the best business schools in India”–me on left

I was thrilled to discuss game theory with everyone. But mostly I was glad to learn from their experiences, and their questions. The people in Mumbai were amazingly hospitable and great participants overall.

In one of the sessions, the introductory speech was great and I’d like to highlight it. The speaker gave a beautiful analogy, and I would like to share these words, which explain why game theory matters for business:

Just as IQ might be a fair representation of a person’s intelligence, real life success is more determined by EQ which is emotional quotient. Similarly we can draw the rough parallel that decision theory can help you to plan things well, but when you want to win in the marketplace, you need the help of game theory.

I went on to discuss things like the dollar auction game, the game theory of surprises, and Hotelling’s game and their business implications, amongst other topics.

(And hold on a bit, I’m working on getting the entire 1 hour talk online)