How Most Companies Play a Finite Game in an Infinite Game World

In his highly recommended book ‘The Infinite Game‘, Simon Sinek makes the point that whereas we live in a world of infinite games, most companies today play a finite game. And this is not getting better in the last years.

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“Sadly , over the course of the past thirty to forty years, finite – minded leadership has become the modern standard in business. Finite – minded leadership is embraced by Wall Street and taught in business schools. At the same time, the life span of companies appears to be getting shorter and shorter. According to a study by McKinsey, the average life span of an S & P 500 company has dropped over forty years since the 1950s, from an average of sixty – one years to less than eighteen years today.”

It is quite amazing to have such a contradiction between a much more open, infinite game in business and economy with globalisation, and the fact that the financial markets promote finite game behavior. This also explains in a certain way the comparative success of fmily-driven businesses that take a long view on their development.

Let’s hope that with the development of sustainability thoughts, more economic players will start playing infinite games and that this finite-game behavior will change. This is definitely what is needed for the Collaborative Age.

The post How Most Companies Play a Finite Game in an Infinite Game World first appeared on The Fourth Revolution Blog.