Simon Sinek’s guide to playing the infinite game
Simon Sinek’s The Infinite Game: How Great Businesses Achieve Long-lasting Success lays out what to do differently when playing the infinite game.
Here are Sinek’s principles and my response to them.
#1 — Advance a Just Cause
What am I trying to get done… that will always be bigger than I can complete? It needs to be beyond any project or business I am involved with. They are part of a bigger drive. I have written down what these are for me.
#2 — Build Trusting Teams
This tribe has no boundaries. Some of my team are in the companies I work for. Some are not. Anyone can join if they share my just cause.
#3 — Study Your Worthy Rivals
Who threatens me? Who am I concerned will beat me? They are the rules of the finite game. Invert and study them. Make them a mentor. Recruit them into your trusting team.
#4 — Prepare for Existential Flexibility
If the just cause is big enough, there will be times when it is attacked or suffocated by its environment. In the infinite game, this is OK. It is just a moment in time. Just make sure you have the means and the mindset to adapt. The game can’t end.
#5 — Demonstrate the Courage to Lead
Take risks. It is not a just cause if it is easy. To recruit a trusting team, and make progress, I will need to take reputational risks.