The Game of 6 Players: Why Only One Plays Solely for You

Are You Playing to Win or Just Keeping Score?

In a recent boardroom strategy session, a CEO posed a deceptively simple question:

“If business is a game, who’s really playing for us?”

It triggered a cascade of uneasy silence. On paper, everything looked good: solid revenue, happy customers, active investors. But beneath the surface, a harder truth was emerging — the team wasn’t really a team. They were managing partnerships, contracts, and accounts, but were they aligned, were they loyal?

That’s when the CEO reframed the entire conversation.

“Business is a game of 6 players,” he said. “And only one is truly on our side.”

Let’s unpack this.

The Six Players in Every Business Game

Whether you’re a global conglomerate or a bootstrapped startup, your game is played by these six stakeholders:

1. Suppliers
2. Employees
3. Distributors / Channel Partners
4. Customers
5. Competitors
6. Investors

At first glance, they all seem essential — and they are. But here’s the paradox:

• Suppliers serve your competitors.
• Distributors co-sell for competitors.
• Customers switch brands for value.
• Competitors exist to outperform you.
• Investors seek returns, wherever the returns may come from — including your rivals.

Only one group deals with all five of the above with exclusive allegiance to your interests: Your Employees.

Why Employees Are Your Only True Players

Employees aren’t just part of the system. They are the system.

• They negotiate with suppliers to lower cost or increase quality.
• They collaborate with distributors to move product.
• They create experiences for customers that build loyalty.
• They observe and outperform competitors on the frontline.
• They communicate with investors through results, not pitch decks.

And they do all of this with only one jersey on: yours.

Yet paradoxically, when budgets are tight or when leadership debates cost centers vs. value centers, it’s the HR function — the system that builds, nurtures, and retains these players — that gets cut first.

Strategic Fit for the 21st Century: Outplaying with People

The HBR article highlights how the fitness company SEB created a near-impossible-to-replicate system by aligning purpose, people, and performance into a self-reinforcing loop. Their secret wasn’t product. It wasn’t pricing. It was people-powered strategic fit.

You can copy products. You can mimic pricing. But you can’t clone culture or commitment.

That’s the point. In the game of 6 players, your unique competitive advantage is the one player nobody else can buy or borrow: your people.

Invest in them. Build around them. And the other 5 players — even the competitors — will start reacting to your moves, not the other way around.

Final Word: Rethinking HR as the Winning System

HR is not a cost center. It’s your team engine. Your competitive weapon. Your only exclusive asset.

If you want to win the business game, win with the one player who plays only for you.

Author’s Note: This article was inspired in part by the Harvard Business Review piece “The Power of Strategic Fit” (March–April 2025) by Darrell Rigby and Zach First. Their framework on aligning strategic factors for stakeholder value influenced the way I viewed the interconnected roles of business players — and ultimately led to this 6-player lens with employees at the center.

The ideas here build on that foundation but present a new perspective: What if, in the complex game of business, only one player truly plays for you?

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About Manu Khetan

Manu, Founder and CEO of Rolling Arrays, a global HR technology leader, brings two decades of expertise to redefine HR practices. Passionate about pioneering HR automation and nurturing talent, Manu advocates for a customer-first and employee-first approach, prioritizing value creation. Beyond the boardroom, he is a dedicated family man, a skilled pianist, and an advocate for empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs. Join Manu on the transformative journey where HR emerges as a dynamic force for positive change in the business world.