If I asked you who is your biggest competitor, or what is your biggest competition in the marketplace, you might name another company or type of service provider. We are taught to look for our competitors and differentiate ourselves from them, which is important, but optimist and New York Times bestselling author Simon Sinek talks about a different kind of competition. In “THIS Is Your Biggest Competition” Sinek says:
In the mid 1980s, a philosopher and theologian by the name of Dr. James Carse defined these two kinds of games, finite games and infinite games. A finite game is defined as known players, fixed rules, and an agreed-upon objective. Football, baseball. If there’s a winner, necessarily, there has to be a loser. More important, there’s always a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Sinek then shares why an infinite game is different from a finite game. He says:
Infinite games are defined as known and unknown players, which means you don’t necessarily know who all the other players are. And new players can join the game at any time. The rules are changeable, which means every player can play however they want.
And the objective is to perpetuate the game to stay in the game as long as possible. We are players in infinite games every day of our lives, whether we know it or not.
That seems like a great definition of the world of business to me. The big games that we are actually playing are ones we will never win. Sinek gave a great example:
No one will ever be declared the winner of career. Nobody wins education or healthcare. And there’s definitely no such thing as winning business, right? When Circuit City went bankrupt, Best Buy didn’t win anything – one of the players simply dropped out of the game.
He also shared a very cool story about a difference between Apple and Microsoft, and how it was a function of the game they were playing.
In my work with small business owners and solo consultants, I will often ask questions around what game they want to play.
Most of my clients want to be thought leaders or change an industry.
Some want to help their clients do this.
Many of my clients are thinking of this work as their legacy work.
We’re all in the game of life, and while our lives are finite, life overall (hopefully) goes on after we move on.
Even as I was starting my business 15 years ago, I knew I wanted to play a longer game. This was the work I was born to do, and I will most likely be doing it for as long as I can.
I am playing an infinite game for sure.
What game are you playing?
Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash
