Rich Move

What It Means

A rich move is an action that serves multiple goals simultaneously rather than just one. The richness is in the multi-dimensionality of its value: the same action that addresses an immediate demand also advances a strategic positioning goal, builds a relationship, demonstrates a competence, and creates new information.

Rich moves are more valuable per unit of effort than single-purpose moves - they produce more outcomes from the same expenditure of resources. Systematically preferring rich moves over single-purpose moves produces compounding advantages.

What Makes a Move Rich

A move becomes rich when its effects span multiple domains or time horizons. Several patterns produce richness:

Demonstration while doing: An action that achieves its object while also demonstrating relevant capability - a consultant who solves a client problem in a way that reveals other problems they could also solve.

Relationship building through work: Work that advances a project goal while also developing or maintaining the relationship with a collaborator.

Information generation through action: An action that produces real-world information about a question you need to answer, while also accomplishing an immediate goal.

Positioning through response: Responding to a melee demand in a way that also improves strategic position - using the urgency of the immediate situation to accomplish something that would not have been possible in a less pressured context.

The Practice

Identifying rich moves requires looking at a situation with multiple frames simultaneously - not just "how do I address this demand?" but "given that I need to address this demand, what way of addressing it would also serve other goals?"

This is a higher cognitive load than single-purpose planning. It requires holding multiple agendas in mind while evaluating actions. But it is a learnable skill, and the payoff - compounding value from each action - makes the cognitive investment worthwhile.

Rich moves are not always available. Some situations allow for them; others do not. The practice is to look for them systematically rather than defaulting to single-purpose moves when richer alternatives exist.