Squid Game for Management Professionals — Part III

Lessons to learn from the first game about Stress Management in Panic

In the third article of the series, we will tear apart the very first game of the competition — Red Light, Green Light.

In the actual game, players stand at behind a start line, except for one player (let’s call that player X), who stands ahead of the finish line such that their back faces all the other players. Players have to move from the start line and reach the player X to tag him, but they have to do that without appearing to be moving to the player X. So the player X has to randomly look behind throughout the game and if the player X sees anyone moving, that person is out of the game. The player who tags the player X takes their place and all other move to the first line to play again. The game is also called Statues in certain parts of the world.

Red Light, Green Light

We will go about it chronologically. What the players discover at first is that they have to play the game in an arena that has been designed to mimic a playground. All of them are competing against each other and there is a massive creepy doll standing by a tree at the end of the field. As per instructions:

1. Players have five minutes to move from the start line to the end line.
2. Players are allowed to move forward when the mechanical doll shouts “green light” and they have to stop as soon as it shouts “red light”.
3. Anyone who is detected to be moving after that shall be eliminated.

The game itself makes contestants a bit excited as it is a reminiscence of their childhood as well. Players are shown to having bets on the game as well. But that only stays until the game start.

As soon as the doll shouts “green light” for the first time, a few players run forward but one of them is very quick. When the doll shouts “red light” and everyone stops, the player who was quick faces trouble in standing still. The doll’s head turns to face everyone and there is an announcement about that player being eliminated. Then the player gets shot by a gun in the walls of the arena. This is the only time in the game where the announcement of elimination is made before the death of a player.

Courtesy: Netflix — Squid Game

The death of the first player is followed by a couple of subsequent deaths that lead to a panic, in which most of the players start to run backwards and all those detected moving start getting shot. This leads to a massacre. The game ends with only 201 players surviving out of the total 456 who entered the game.

Terrified by the experience of the first game, players declare that they want to quit the game. Meanwhile they are made aware of the prize money, which is one hundred million won per head of the eliminated players. This means two things:

1. The value of the cash prize increases for the winners with every death and the winner(s) will make more money if the lesser they are in number, ideally just one.
2. All those who don’t win are worth more dead than alive.

If the majority chooses to quit, all the money collected so far will go to the families of the dead, i.e. one hundred million won per one person’s family and the alive ones get back to their miserable lives, which is the choice they all collectively make when the voting is held.

Panic

If we first look at the game itself, it is actually the easiest game to win, because:

1. Individual wins did not have to result in anyone else’s defeat. People had to ensure their own safety only.
2. They could help each other. They even do, a few of them, by shielding the others or by saving them from falling.

As we discussed in the previous article, being deprived from so much of the information, reality shock was a very predictable outcome, and was probably a desired outcome as well in this case. Reality shock results in panic among the players, which deprives them of the ability to understand the situation and strategize accordingly. This is why, a game that has the highest probability of survival results in the highest number of deaths (255) as well as a surprisingly low success rate (44.07%).

Also, note that as soon as the players realize that they are getting killed for failing to follow the instructions, their natural response is to run away. This is called the flight response. The animal instinct in a situation of threat, as initially described by Walter Bradford Cannon, leads to the secretion of certain hormones (catecholamines like norepinephrine and epinephrine, cortisol, etc.) which drive the organisms to respond in particular ways. Other possible instinctive responses include fight and freeze responses. To simplify it, in the situation of perceived threat, there is an instinctive and natural tendency in most animals, including humans, to either run away, fight back or just freeze and do nothing. This also means that few of the survivors during the massacre in the game might have survived only because they couldn’t move because of the freeze response. Another thing which could have happened, but is not shown at least, was some of them trying to attack the doll or the guns. That would have been the fight response.

Similarly, when the agitated players refuse to play any further, only one of them is able to remember the third clause of the contract that can help them leave the competition if they want. Except the Player 001, the decision of whether to continue playing or not is tied. Point to ponder: What do you think is the reason for people wanting to leave or to continue? Which half of the players was wiser? If you are reading this question, do share your point of view with me in this regard!

Key Learnings

Panic has the ability to influence your response to situations and your decision making so terribly that it can take the ability of deliberately making a decision away from you.

The only way to prevent from it and to reduce your chances of panicking is awareness. Remember:

1. Panic arises from the perception of the situation, which means it is possible that you may react to a stimulus that is not even there. You cannot possibly predict each and every situation in life, and being able to do that would take away the uncertainty of life, which is basically what makes life worth living.
2. Suicide also seems a viable option when one’s life seems too predictable as one accepts that one knows how it is ever going to turn out. But that is wrong! Life never remains predictable in a longer interval of time unless you take decisions that have rather predictable outcomes.
3. If you train your mind to be aware and conscious, it may buy you some time in a situation of threat. All you need is a little time to think before taking the action, and you can prepare your mind for that by regular physical or psychological exercises. Physical exercises improve your minds ability to bear stress and psychological exercise can enable your mind to understand and resolve situations faster. And if you feel that you have a greater tendency to panic, you have to practice this more frequently because that is the only way.
4. During a situation of stress or perceived threat, you can take deep breaths. As we discussed that certain hormones are instinctively released in animals, these hormones drive certain actions as well, including raised heartbeat and rapid respiration. Efforts to reduce the intensity of these actions result in decreasing the rate of secretion of the said hormones, consequently reducing its impact.
5. Now that you have bought time in the moment of stress, you can use that time to critically analyze the situation of threat in ruling out the possibilities of the perception of threat being not as serious as you initially perceived it to be. This shall put you at ease. That means now you have more time to think. You can use this time to come up with ways to deal with the threat.

No action can guarantee your safety in case of a threat, but avoiding panic can increase your chances to deal with the threat in the most effective way possible!

Check out the other published parts of the series:

1. How can we increase the probability of success in cases of headhunting?
2. How to steer clear of ambiguity in building professional relationships with the help of contracts?
3. How to stay sensible while making decisions during the times of stress?
4. How to manage the lack of privilege with innovative thinking?
5. How to lead the battle against the challenges that seem enormous and unwinnable?
6. How to manage conflicts and win in win-lose situations?
7. What to expect from humans when they are at their worst?

Feel free to share your comments on the analysis, and do share it in your social and professional circles if you think this can benefit them!