How is Jenga Similar To Entrepreneurship

Leslie Scott was 11 years old and living in Africa when her parents got some wooden blocks home for her to play. She used those building blocks to create the now world famous game Jenga and launched it at the London Toy Fair in 1963. A 16 year old entrepreneur was born.

“In many ways, playing a game is like starting and running a business, which in turn is like embarking on a solo journey down a swiftly flowing river,” – Leslie Scott
Now that we know how Jenga came to be, let’s take a look at why Jenga represents the life of an entrepreneur!

Jenga means ‘build’ in Swahili. That is exactly what an entrepreneur tries to do – build a company. It is the slow process of stacking blocks, three across and building upwards. This is the foundation of the startup, the pre production stage of gathering all the essentials, drawing a blueprint and building the company. It takes a lot of courage to build something and to build something that is strong and will hold the weight of every hurdle thrown its way.

The next step in Jenga is to carefully remove a piece from the structure and place it on the top to increase the height of the tower. Every strategy ever used in a game of Jenga is to remove those bricks that are easy to move and won’t make the tower fall. It takes careful deliberation and analysis of the stack to remove one lonesome brick and only when you are sure of the block will you even attempt removing it. An entrepreneur’s next step is building the brand of the company and launching the product or service. Carefully analyzing the environment and choosing the best time and the right media to launch your services and build your brand name is an essential part of the growing process. It requires just the right amount of opportunistic risk taking to remove that one perfect brick and place it on top.
 
Once the first brick is placed, it’s all about making sure you don’t become over confident leading to a complete collapse. Launching a company is the easy part. Maintaining the name and building steam is where the real problems lie. Slowly, none of the easily movable bricks will remain and the stakes will get higher. This is that stage where everyone gets more cautious because one false move and the entire tower comes crashing down. But it is also important to remember that unless some bold risks are taken, there won’t be any growth or development in the company. The higher the tower, the bigger the risks.

It takes calculated risks, opportunism, courage and the occasional luck to win a game of Jenga and build a successful business. But one thing is for sure, building an empire takes a lot of hard work, strategy, concentration and determination. But, unlike Jenga, you don’t have to stick to certain rules and regulations to develop your startup. Use any tool or strategy available to deal with any hurdles, beat the odds and grow to become a Unicorn.