Platitudes

I am interested in any old cliches that can be adapted for Steven Covey type advice for the business world  - you know the sort of thing 'how do you eat an elephant' 'spend time sharpening the axe' well how about 'if you can't make a goodmove  - don't make a bad move' or 'don't move your queen out to early'   ...any suggestions?  I would like to see a pseudo explanation of the phrase's relevance to business thinking......

"If your opponent has more pawns than you, make sure you have more queens or rooks".

APPLICATION TO BUSINESS: A small company based around skilled practitioners will outperform a larger concern made up of droids.

p.s. who is Steven Covey anyway?

My little sisters collaborated to buy me this book for Christmas;

The Wisest Things Ever Said About Chess, by Andrew Soltis.

It's kindof what you're after, at least insofar as every page involves a pertinent and aphoristic chess quotation followed by an explaination and then an example game. If you're instinct is to learn this way (as mine is - by deriving instances from condensed, theoretical maxims) it might be worth looking in to.

http://www.amazon.com/Wisest-Things-About-Chess-Batsford/dp/1906388008

"There's a good reason why you can't underpromote to a pawn."

APPLICATION TO BUSINESS: Always look for new challenges in your role. Consider sideways moves rather than stagnating in exactly the same position.