Game theory has a lousy name.

When most people think of games, they think of commercial stuff for kids, like Chutes and Ladders or possibly Monopoly.

But a game is simply a system where humans, facing scarcity, make choices. Scarcity leads to choices and to competition.

It turns out that our culture, our commerce and our lives are simply the result of billions of people making billions of choices. Choices that have costs and rewards, and choices that effect other people.

If you want your idea to spread…

If you want your product to sell…

If you want to change a system…

Then beginning by understanding the game theory involved is essential.

Your job is not to “get the word out.” Nor are you likely to be able to get others to know what you know, see what you see and admit that they were wrong.

Instead, the best we can do is create great work that fits into a system where voluntary choices, made by diverse individuals, leads to the change we seek to make.

What’s the game theory of lobbying the city council? The game theory of launching a new jazz record?

It starts by acknowledging that different people have different lenses, different desires, different stories they tell themselves about what they want and how the world works.

The geeks and the nerds and the early adopters have self selected as the people who like to go first. So if you bring them something new, they might choose to be curious.

Then… what do they tell the others? Why would telling other people about your new thing help them win the game they’re playing? What’s in it for them…

And then, those people, the ones that heard about it from the first group, did they take action? How does the change or opportunity or threat you offer interact with the strategy they have about how they will spend their precious time and resources?

And on and on it goes.