This week I was privileged to attend Part 1 of Simon Sinek’s leadership training series, based on his book The Infinite Game.
Do you know the difference between a finite game and an infinite game?
I confess, I didn’t know the difference and it seems I’m not alone.
According to Sinek, “leaders don’t know the game they’re in”.
A finite game is a game that has a winner. It also has rules and known players and competitors.
An infinite game has known and unknown players. Its rules are changeable and the objective is to stay in the game, not to beat your opponent.
Examples of infinite games include: business, marriage, global politics, education and healthcare.
Playing the infinite game in business means becoming obsessed with where you are going versus beating the competition.
Sinek outlined the 5 components of the Infinite Mindset and explained that the Infinite Mindset is a “striving”. If we take health as an example, we strive to be healthy. To be healthy we need to exercise, sleep, meditate, drink so many litres of water each day and eat healthy food. We can’t do them all at the same time. We go in and out of balance, however if our ambition is to be healthy over time, and we focus on each of the components of health, we will eventually achieve health. The same applies to business and marriage etc.
Sinek’s 5 components for business and leadership include:
- Advance a Just Cause
- Build Trusting Teams
- Respect/Study your Worthy Rivals
- Develop the capacity for existential flexibility
- Have the courage to lead.
What game are you playing?
What game do you want to play?
When will you start playing?
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