How often does the word “winning” find its way into business language? Often, as we all know. Nevertheless, what if winning were never the point to begin with, even though business is littered with figures we deem to be winners and losers?
Simon Sinek’s latest, The Infinite Game, proposes that business leaders focused on winning are what he calls “finite players,” more focused on short-term outcomes and goals rather than the big picture. A leadership style like this ultimately fails because it isn’t centered on “trust, cooperation and innovation.”
Sinek maintains that these patterns of success and failure don’t only apply to the world of business, but to history and our closest relationships. Are friendships and marriages a “finite” game? No - the object of these relationships is to keep them growing and improving. Likewise, Sinek insists that no one “wins” at business or global politics. The reality is that those landscapes continuously shift and change over time.
“Infinite players” realize that and are much more likely to sustain themselves in a competitive, short-sighted world. If you’re looking for insight on how to develop a broader view on how to handle your professional and personal life, then this might be the book for you.
Here is the summary from Amazon:
“How do we win a game that has no end? Finite games, like football or chess, have known players, fixed rules and a clear endpoint. The winners and losers are easily identified. Infinite games, games with no finish line, like business or politics, or life itself, have players who come and go. The rules of an infinite game are changeable while infinite games have no defined endpoint. There are no winners or losers—only ahead and behind.
“The question is, how do we play to succeed in the game we’re in?
“In this revelatory new book, Simon Sinek offers a framework for leading with an infinite mindset. On one hand, none of us can resist the fleeting thrills of a promotion earned or a tournament won, yet these rewards fade quickly. In pursuit of a Just Cause, we will commit to a vision of a future world so appealing that we will build it week after week, month after month, year after year. Although we do not know the exact form this world will take, working toward it gives our work and our life meaning.
“Leaders who embrace an infinite mindset build stronger, more innovative, more inspiring organizations. Ultimately, they are the ones who lead us into the future.”
