The Infinite Game - Simon Sinek | Summarized Books

The Infinite Game

Life is an infinite game, with many finite games as subunits

Life is the longest journey you'll embark on. The journey of life has twists and turns, happiness, joy and a whole range of ups and downs. But most importantly, life is a journey filled with several events and experiences.

Most of these are actually competitions where winners and losers are declared, but some are not meant to be a competition. Those ones are a continuity — an infinite game.

For example, schooling is a life event. While in school, you could come first in class, because that one is a competition. But, no one comes first or last in a career.

Similarly, business or national politics are not a competition. They are infinite games that transcend the lives of their players.

The ideas of finite and infinite games were first documented by Professor James P. Carse who wrote a treatise titled “Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility” in 1986.

That little treatise set the motion for Simon Sinek's further study on the subject. This book was born out of his numerous studies on the game of life.

In this book you will learn to differentiate between finite and infinite games. This will absolutely help you in your personal and professional life. Among the things you will learn from this book is that business and career are not finite games that end with you — they are meant to be transgenerational and you're only a player in the bigger scope of things. And lastly, you will learn strategies for living the transgenerational life.

Business is an infinite game and should be treated as such

Finite games consist of a particular number of well known players who play by clearly defined rules. Such games have a definite beginning, middle and end. A finite game ends when certain laid out conditions have been met by one party. That group or individual is declared winner, while the other is a loser.

A good example of a finite game is football. There are 11 players per team and players are penalized if they violate the rules of the game. The game runs for a defined time, usually 90 minutes — after which the winner and loser is declared.

But infinite games are quite the opposite. They consist of known and unknown players. The game doesn't end at a particular time; players only come and go.

Plus, there aren't any particularly specified rules of engagement. There exist broad rules to guide the game, but players could go against these rules and still escape being penalized. This can't happen in a finite game.

Business is a good example of an infinite game.

Ideally, business is a vehicle for conveying value to a defined target market. You will often hear businesses saying they are the best in the world, or the top in their industry. But if you're to follow the definition of business as a means for conveying value to people, you will realize that it's not a race against competitors.

When business leaders begin to imbibe the competition mindset, they shift the focus from satisfying customers to striving to win the market share, irrespective of what their customers think about their products or services.

But leaders with infinite mindsets approach things differently, and they have better results. An infinite leader isn't concerned so much about the public image of his business, or the amount of profits coming in as much as he is concerned with the welfare of his employees and consumers.

Successful business organizations have always been those who selflessly play the infinite game. Take Victorinox, the company that popularized the Swiss Army Knife, for example. After the September 11 bombing, the knife was banned from hand luggage. Most companies in this situation would assume a defensive position, considering how much the legislation would cost them.

But, Victorinox didn't act that way. On the contrary, they took the offensive position and began brainstorming how to diversify their product line (at the time, the Swiss Army Knife consisted of over 80% of their sales). This move caused them to begin thinking beyond the box, and today, the company has grown and diversified so much that knives makeup only 35% of their total sales. Do you know what's more amazing? During the 9/11 period, Victorinox refused to lay off any worker. Only a company driven by infinite thinking, one which cares so much about the public and its workers can be able to do that.

One major advantage of approaching business as an infinite game is that it prepares you to handle the shocks and surprises that can't be avoided in the business world.

There exist five essential practices that people who play with an infinite mindset must abide by to be successful. These are:

1. Advance a just cause
2. Build trusting teams
3. Study your worthy rivals
4. Prepare for existential flexibility
5. Demonstrate the courage to lead

In the following chapters, we shall be digging deeper into each of the essential practices. One chapter per practice. Let's roll.

“The true value of an organization is measured by the desire others have to contribute to that organization’s ability to keep succeeding, not just during the time they are there, but well beyond their own tenure.” ~ Simon Sinek.

Infinite leaders are those who advance a Just Cause

It's hard to get a group of people to accomplish a particular goal, if there isn't any promise of reward.

Even with a good reward system, there is no guarantee that people will pour out their lives in working for an organization. But the narrative changes when there is a future state, a Just Cause worth pursuing.

An organization with a Just Cause is one which will get the commitment of its members.

It's human nature to want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. This is why military people are committed to serving their nations. It's the reason founding fathers fought hard for independence. Thousands of religious people who sacrificed their lives for their convictions didn't do it because of instant gratification. Most of them gave their lives to ensure their convictions are passed on to coming generations.

This is how an infinite leader must behave. He must be driven by a deep conviction. A Just Cause that's inspiring enough to deserve his commitment and that of others.

According to Simon Sinek, a Just Cause is “A specific vision of a future state that does not yet exist; a future state so appealing that people are willing to make sacrifices in order to help advance toward that vision.”

For it to be a Just Cause, it must be a selfless vision of a desirable future state.

Just Causes are not in the present or past. They are things or situations yet to happen. And they are so big that selflessness is required to fulfill them. Also, no one can achieve a Just Cause all by themselves. This where a Just Cause is different from a WHY.

WHYs are personal. They are your reasons for doing all that you do, and they are unique to you. But a Just Cause is common to a group of people. You can't adopt someone's WHY — you only need to look into your past to find it — but you might not necessarily found a Just Cause, you can always join an existing one that suits your values.

An organization with an infinite leader driven by a Just Cause is a dream for many. People in such organizations may not be highly paid, but they will love their jobs, and always be ready to sacrifice time and resources to advance the Cause of their organization.

Do you have an inspiring Just Cause? Is it futuristic and devoid of selfishness?

If you don't, then take the first step in becoming an infinite leader.

And, if your organization has a Just Cause before you even joined, it's your duty to adhere to that vision all through your time in the organization. Always remember, the job of an infinite leader is not to win the game, but to play his part faithfully as just a member in an endless chain.

A Just Cause must be:
For something — affirmative and optimistic
Inclusive — open to all those who would like to contribute
Service oriented — for the primary benefit of others
Service oriented — for the primary benefit of others
Resilient — able to endure political, technological and cultural change
Idealistic— big, bold and ultimately unachievable.

If you want to scale the performance of your team, focus on building Trusting Teams

In the previous chapter, we emphasized that teams work best when motivated and inspired by a Just Cause that is bigger than them. While you need a Just Cause to get folks inspired enough to work in your organization, you need to do something entirely different to boost their performance level — you need to get through their emotions.

Human beings are emotional creatures, no amount of professionalism can rule that out. It's true that, if you want people to do things in your favor, you need

to appeal to their emotions. Just as a stranger will need to act friendly to win the affection of a child.

When working with a group of professional adults, it's best to create an environment of trust and vulnerability. You have to make everyone on the team realize that no one will judge them for being vulnerable. If your team can't freely express their weaknesses, and be confident of your support or the support of the other team members, then you don't have a high performing team.

If you want to create a culture of trust and performance where there is none, then cultivate the habit of listening to your team members. That's the first step.

Chief Jack Cauley understood this principle and he used it to turn Castle Rock Police Department around, in just a few months of his posting.

When Chief Cauley was posted to CRPD, he instantly realized that something was missing: there was a competition culture among the officers, and they didn't seem to trust each other so much.

To change this, Chief Cauley set aside blocks of time for one-on-one listening sessions with each sworn officer and staff member of the department. After a series of listening sessions, he realized a common need: the staff all wanted their leaders to fence the station. They had actually appealed for it, but were turned down because the authorities thought there were better things to spend money on.

In a few short weeks, Chief Cauley had the fence erected. This was the beginning of a culture change in the department.

His regular listening sessions brought him closer to the staff, making them realize, psychologically, that he believed in and cared for them.

You too can practice the same thing. It won't cost you much to listen attentively to your team members, but the results of that will blow your mind.

“Trust is the stacking and layering of small moments and reciprocal vulnerability over time“ ~ Brené Brown

Don't fight your rivals, learn from them and grow

There is nothing you're doing right now that no one else is doing. Which means, competition is inevitable. You'll always have someone doing something better than you. Now, there are two ways to react when you discover that someone: you could become finite in your thinking and start looking for ways to outplay the other player, or you could be infinite, and realize you need the competition to push you more towards self improvement.

You see, the moment you stop thinking competition and start thinking rivalry, something wonderful happens. You will start getting inspired by the strengths of your rivals, and this will propel you to work on your weaknesses until you become better. The result? You won't necessarily beat the other players, because that has stopped being your ultimate objective. Rather, the new strengths you gained will give you an incredible boost in your endeavor.

Don't fight your rivals, get inspired by them, and you will start getting better at what you do. One more point is that rivalry will make you find the WHY for the things you do.

Rivalry is a necessary requirement for success in an infinite game.

Infinite minded leaders are not afraid of existential flexibility

Before Walt Disney built Disneyland in 1952, he had a flourishing business around what he loved doing best, which was entertaining people through animation videos.

So people thought him mad when he branched out of that business and started selling his assets as well as the share he held in the company.

It would have been understandable if the business was failing, but it wasn't. However, Disney wasn't crazy. He only did what every visionary, infinite thinking leader would do in his shoes.

His reason for selling the business and liquidating his assets was simple: the company was doing well, but it was no longer serving his Just Cause.

Disney left and built Disneyland, a company that would better advance his Just Cause of relieving people of stress and transporting them to a world of their wildest dreams.

What Disney exhibited is called Existential Flexibility, “the capacity to initiate an extreme disruption to a business model or strategic course in order to more effectively advance a Just Cause.”

For infinite minded leaders, business is a vehicle for advancing a Just Cause, not merely a means to gain profits. This is why it's so important that you have a Just Cause you're pursuing, and if you do, don't be afraid to disrupt or restructure your business when it starts going in a direction that obviously won't advance your Just Cause.

Understand that, Existential Flex is different from adjustment to meet the requirements of a changing world. For instance, most news papers changed their business models because of the demands of the digital age. That's not Existential Flex, they just remodeled to stay in business. Remodeling is good in the face of changes, and just about any wise leader does that, but it takes infinite thinking to muster enough courage to make an Existential Flex.

Infinite leaders demonstrate high levels of courage

It takes a lot of courage to make an infinite decision in a world driven by finite thinking.

As an infinite leader, you must learn to not allow your decisions be influenced by what finite thinkers will think. It takes courage to live this way, and it's hard to do it all alone.

To make things easier, surround yourself with Trusting Teams that collectively believe in your Just Cause. You will also need a rivalry to keep you on your toes. Most importantly, prioritize your Just Cause above all else.

CVS Caremark demonstrated this sort of courage in 2014 when they decided to stop selling tobacco products in all their 2800 stores. The reason was simple: selling tobacco was against their Just Cause of “Helping people on their path to better health”.

As you would expect, this decision attracted backlash from the public. They lost millions in revenue, too. But they stuck to their Just Cause.

But the decision only cost them in the short term. They attracted more business partners who believed in their Cause, and their revenue more than doubled in just about 18 months of implementing the plan.

That's how the infinite game works. You can't see what the future holds, but if you're courageous enough to stick to your Just Cause, the future payoff will be huge.

Conclusion

Business is an infinite game, and those who play infinitely will build transgenerational organizations that will continue to make an impact long after the founding fathers exit the stage.

Infinite leaders are those who: pursue a Just Cause, build Trusting Teams, study their Worthy Rivals, prepare for Existential Flexibility, and demonstrate Courage.

The first step in becoming an infinite leader is advancing a Just Cause. But you can't advance a Cause you don't know. If you're a leader in an organization, determine if there is a Just Cause guiding that organization. How inspiring is it, and how well have you been sticking to it?