Our resident corporate Agony Uncle, CEO Ken Cheng, tackles business challenges – so you don’t have to
Q. What do we think about cheating in games or sports? Is it a complete no-no or is it just part of the game to skirt around the rules? – Fiona, Rushden
Let me tell you a tale about my son. My son was a County chess champion at the age of 9. He won several tournaments and was a fearless opponent over the board. Everyone deemed him a real prodigy. There was only one catch.
He was cheating the entire time.
I don’t know how he was doing it, but his rivals discovered his cheating and exposed him. Some snot-nosed brat called Kevin whose parents are definitely swingers. Anyway, Kevin analysed his games and found he was playing at a near perfect level that only someone like Magnus Carlsen could.
My son felt so guilty. He came running to me crying and saying “Papa, papa, I will never cheat again!”
I rolled my eyes. “Really? That’s the lesson you’re taking from this?”
I sat him down and said, “Listen, cheating and getting caught is a big part of life. You shouldn’t be saying ‘I’ll never cheat again’.”
“You should say “I’ll never get caught cheating again.”
Anyone who is the best at anything cheats, whether it’s in games or in business. Getting caught in such an obvious way at such a young age is a blessing. When I heard my son was caught cheating, I was so proud and so happy.
You see, I never got to learn the lesson of being cheating. Exams, games, business – I didn’t need to bend the rules to be on top. I was way too good at everything that I never needed to. And I tear up thinking I never got the opportunity to become an excellent cheater.
I’m jealous of my own dirtbag conniving son.
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