This week, with everything happening in the Middle East, I started thinking about oil.
War headlines.
Tension rising.
And almost immediately, oil prices start moving.
Nothing changes overnight in your day-to-day life.
But under the surface, everything starts shifting.
Fuel costs rise.
Shipping gets more expensive.
Flights increase.
Food follows.
Most people don’t notice it in real time.
But one input starts affecting everything downstream.
It made me think about business.
Every business has something like this.
A core input that quietly drives outcomes.
In business, we focus on what we can see.
Revenue.
Sales calls.
Leads.
But the real drivers are usually deeper.
Cost structures.
Conversion rates.
Systems.
Efficiency.
If one of those shifts, everything shifts.
Just like oil.
The Business Game is not just about reacting to what’s happening on the surface.
It’s about understanding what sits underneath.
Because the founders who win are not the ones reacting fastest.
They are the ones who understand the system they are operating inside.