Joe Byerly
Of all the players in Game of Thrones, Tyrion Lannister would probably not make anyone’s short list of likely survivors of season after season of intrigue and violence. He’s small in stature, he has a drinking problem, and his chances of catching venereal disease are extremely high. There are many characters who possessed quality traits that made them better candidates for survival, and yet Tyrion outlasts them all: the noble and strong Ned Stark lost his head in season 1; the Achilles-like Oberyn Martell had his skull crushed in season 4; and the ruthless and Machiavellian Tywin Lannister met his demise in a particularly unfortunate setting, also in season 4. Among the heroes and villains of Westeros, how does a man who stands at only four feet five inches and has a penchant for heavy drinking and enthusiastically patronizing bordellos make it so far in the game of thrones?
Tyrion had two habits that became his competitive advantage and enabled him to overcome his many disadvantages. First, he read a lot. Through reading, he gained an understanding of history and internalized years of vicarious experiences. These books gave him the mental models with which to maneuver through multiple complex situations within the Seven Kingdoms. Second, he built a large and diverse network of people who not only contributed to his development but kept him alive.
When we are first introduced to Tyrion, we learn that he likes to read. On the way to the Wall, while everyone else prepared to camp for the night, he found a quiet spot and began reading a book that he had borrowed from Winterfell’s library. Jon Snow interrupted him and asked why he read so much. Tyrion pointed out that because of his physical attributes, he would never be a swordsman or a great warrior, but he had something that he could continually improve and strengthen. “My brother has his sword, and I have my mind,” he tells Jon Snow. “And a mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone.”1
As the seasons progress, Tyrion’s practice of reading bears fruit in the form of his firm grasp of human nature, history, and war. For instance, he played a pivotal role in the Battle of the Blackwater, when he used deception to destroy Stannis Baratheon’s fleet. Tyrion had zero experience with sieges prior to the battle, so he spent time educating himself. He read An History of the Great Sieges of Westeros. From his study, he likely saw patterns in the sieges of history and learned from past successes and failures.
The enemy’s strategy included a simultaneous attack against King’s Landing from land and sea. But during the naval assault, Tyrion had the Iron Fleet leave and Blackwater Bay filled with wildfire, a highly flammable liquid. As the fleet drew close, thinking their victory secured, Tyrion ignited the water, destroying the majority of Stannis’s ships. In reading multiple histories of Westeros, he knew how to shape his deception so as to lull the enemy fleet into a false sense of security, thus allowing the wildfire to damage the most ships. Tyrion’s mix of reading and experience continued to develop and strengthen his understanding of warfare.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, another student of war, similarly used deception in 1944 to draw Hitler’s forces away from the Normandy landing sites. He created a narrative that played into the Nazis’ beliefs regarding Allied capabilities and intentions, causing them to predict that the Allies wouldn’t attack until they had good weather and that they would land around the Pas de Calais area, not Normandy.2
As Daenerys Targaryen wrestled with using overwhelming force to defeat Cersei Lannister and become the new ruler of Westeros, Tyrion advised her against it. He explained that if she wanted to win, she needed to better understand her adversary first. He told her, “You need to take your enemies’ side if you are going to see things the way they do. And you need to see things the way they do if you are going to anticipate their actions, respond effectively, and beat them.”3
Neither Tyrion’s use of deception at the Battle of the Blackwater nor his advice to the Mother of Dragons is likely to have come from his limited experiences. They were the result of the insights he gained from reading. Because of his love of books, Tyrion developed mental models that allowed him to outthink, outsmart, and outmaneuver the various contenders for the Iron Throne in Westeros.
So what are mental models? How did Tyrion develop them from reading? Mental models are lenses through which we view the world, developed through a lifetime of personal experiences and education.4 Once stored in our brains, they help us quickly understand the world and influence how we take action. Mental models are the reason two individuals—say, for example, a Lannister and a Stark—can look at the same information and draw two very different conclusions. The types and variances of experiences, and how we make sense of them, will determine how our mental models are shaped.
It is important to remember that our models are only as good as the inputs. If we fail to feed our brains with varied experiences or quality literature, then our models will be limited in scope. Since we know that Tyrion did not grow up gaining war experience from campaigning like his brother, Jaime, then he had to develop his mental models through the vicarious experience that comes from reading.
Tyrion’s use of reading to build mental models is a practice that has proven its value beyond the shores of Westeros. Throughout history many of our greatest battlefield commanders and strategists also saw the value of reading. For example, in the opening of The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli wrote that he valued “the knowledge of the actions of great men, learned by me from long experience with modern things and a continuous reading of ancient ones.”5 The military strategist Carl von Clausewitz also commented on the power of mental models when he discussed coup d’oeil—the ability to quickly appraise a battlefield’s terrain—as a prerequisite to military genius in his book On War.6 General George Patton took extensive notes on Frederick the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Ardant du Picq, and Helmuth von Moltke, studying not only their successes but also their failures.7 And more recently Secretary of Defense James Mattis wrote, “Thanks to my reading, I have never been caught flat-footed by any situation, never at a loss for how any problem has been addressed before. It doesn’t give me all the answers, but it lights what is often a dark path ahead.”8
Like Mattis, Tyrion’s practice of reading helped him quickly comprehend situations and develop a way forward that proved successful. He survived not because he was a Lannister but because he relied on the vicarious experiences gained through reading history and absorbing the past.
While reading filled in a lot of the gaps in Tyrion’s knowledge, however, there were still gaps. To fill them, he relied on the second aspect of his competitive advantage: his networks.
Throughout the series, Tyrion comes into contact with a cast of people who fell well outside the elite social circles of King’s Landing or Casterly Rock. In doing so, he built a diverse network of people who contributed to his development and, on several occasions, saved his life.
A review some of the key relationships Tyrion developed over the course of seven seasons makes clear the remarkable utility of his networks. He befriended Jon Snow early in season 1. He also traveled to the Wall and spent time in the Night’s Watch with Maester Aemon and Jeor Mormont. He teamed up with the sellsword Bronn, from whom he learned about many of the harsh realities of combat. He formed an alliance with the hill tribes in the North (and led them into battle). As the Hand of the King, he interacted with members of the Small Council, including the conniving Varys. And finally, he found himself in the camp of Daenerys Targaryen, planning an invasion of Westeros among a motley crew of former slaves and seasoned warriors. Tyrion is so connected that a network study published in an academic journal concluded that he is one of three main characters in Game of Thrones.9
These connections are significant because a body of research shows how our networks are critical to professional success. In his book Friend of a Friend: Understanding the Hidden Networks That Can Transform Your Life and Your Career, David Burkus argues, “Being connected to a strong network provides major advantages—access to diverse skills and perspectives, the ability to learn private information, and the type of expertise and influence that makes it easier to attain power.”10
Time and time again, Tyrion’s network helped shape his outlook by exposing him to diverse skills and perspectives. We know that Tyrion read several books in preparation for the Battle of the Blackwater. However, there were gaps between the harsh realities of siege warfare and what was written in books. Bronn filled those gaps by explaining how the breakdown of society starts during the siege. Bronn’s insight gave Tyrion the impetus to develop a plan that quickly defeated Stannis Baratheon’s forces rather than delaying for a future breakout.
Tyrion’s connections also provided him with “private information” and “the type of expertise and influence” that Burkus describes, which “make it easier to attain power.” After Tyrion killed his father, Tywin, he met Varys once again during his escape from Westeros. Varys invited him to help bring Daenerys into power and finally bring peace to Westeros. When one door shut on Tyrion, his network opened another. When he finally met Daenerys and became part of her inner circle, Varys again provided him with assistance. Varys’s own personal network became an extension of Tyrion’s, helping him to govern Meereen in Daenerys’s absence.
Throughout history, successful leaders have surrounded themselves in times of conflict with people who provided them with diverse viewpoints and opposing thought. Abraham Lincoln placed three former opponents who ran against him in the election of 1860 in his cabinet during the Civil War. This helped him better understand the challenges he would face in uniting the Union, let alone seeking to reunite the entire country. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, General Stanley McChrystal surrounded himself with members of the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, and other key agencies (all with different and sometimes opposing cultures) so that he could approach complex problems through a whole-of-government lens.11
Tyrion Lannister was not born with the physical attributes of someone most likely to succeed in the highly contentious environment of Westeros. However, he did understand that he possessed opportunities to improve his chances. And so do we.
Tyrion invested in his personal development through a lifelong habit of reading. He studied the past to understand the present. He understood war and human nature and used this to his advantage throughout the series. We can make the same investment as Tyrion and prepare ourselves for the conflicts that lie ahead. Statesmen and military leaders throughout history faced many of the same problems we see in today’s geopolitical environment. As retired lieutenant general H. R. McMaster once wrote, “People fight today for the same reasons Thucydides identified 2,500 years ago: fear, honor and interest.”12 In the end, the richness of our mental models will determine through what lens we see the world and the actions we take. There is no easier way to do that than through reading.
Tyrion also supplemented his reading with the knowledge gained from large, diverse networks. He learned from sellswords, bastards, queens, and schemers. We may not come into contact with characters as outlandish as those Tyrion meets in the Seven Kingdoms, but we can build a network of diverse personalities and social circles who can help fill our gaps. Authors Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli call this a “personal learning network,” which they define as “a set of connections to people and resources both offline and online who enrich our learning.”13 Problems like state competition, the rise of violent extremist organizations, and failing governance are not going to be well managed by leaders with narrow sets of skills. Wicked problems require leaders who are well rounded and who see those problems from multiple angles. We can only gain that through surrounding ourselves with people who help expand our own thinking.
Tyrion Lannister could never have competed with the likes of his brother, Jaime; the Stark men; or the Martells in direct combat. That would have played to his weaknesses. So he took another route—and that is one of the greatest lessons he offers us. He played to his strengths. He fed his curiosity through self-study and cultivated his network through constant personal contact. He succeeded in war, not by the sword, but by a more subtle approach. At first glance, much like our evaluation of Tyrion, the only way to win wars is by the sword. Tyrion teaches us that there’s more to it than that. We only need to find our competitive advantage and bring that with us to our own game of thrones.
1. David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, “The Kingsroad,” season 1, episode 2, dir. Tim Van Patten, Game of Thrones, aired April 24, 2011, on HBO.
2. Milan N. Vego, Joint Operational Warfare: Theory and Practice (Newport RI: U.S. Naval War College Press, 2009).
3. David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, “Beyond the Wall,” season 7, episode 6, dir. Alan Taylor, Game of Thrones, aired August 20, 2017, on HBO.
4. Gary Klein, Streetlights and Shadows: Searching for the Keys to Adaptive Decision Making (Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 2009), 41.
5. Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. Harvey C. Mansfield, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), 3–4.
6. Carl von Clausewitz, On War, trans. Michael Howard and Peter Paret (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976), 102.
7. Roger H. Nye, “Whence Patton’s Military Genius,” Parameters 21, no. 4 (Winter 1991–92): 60–73.
8. Jill R. Russell, “With Rifle and Bibliography: General Mattis on Professional Reading,” Strife, May 7, 2013, http://www.strifeblog.org/2013/05/07/with-rifle-and-bibliography-general-mattis-on-professional-reading/.
9. Andrew Beveridge and Jia Shan, “Network of Thrones,” Math Horizons, April 2016, https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Mathhorizons/NetworkofThrones%20%281%29.pdf.
10. David Burkus, Friend of a Friend: Understanding the Hidden Networks That Can Transform Your Life and Your Career (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), 8.
11. Stanley A. McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman, and Chris Fussell, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World (New York: Portfolio, 2015).
12. H. R. McMaster, “The Pipe Dream of Easy War,” New York Times, July 21, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/opinion/sunday/the-pipe-dream-of-easy-war.html.
13. Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli, Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education (Bloomington IN: Solution Tree Press, 2011), 2.