The Infinite Game

by Simon Sinek

Infinite games have infinite time horizons. And because there is no finish line, no practical end to the game, there is no such thing as “winning” an infinite game. In an infinite game, the primary objective is to keep playing, to perpetuate the game.

leaders can become so obsessed with what the competition is doing, falsely believing they need to react to their every move, that they become blind to a whole host of better choices to strengthen their own organization.

We don’t get to choose whether a particular game is finite or infinite. We do get to choose whether or not we want join the game. Should we choose to join the game, we can choose whether we want to play with a finite or an infinite mindset.

Any leader who wants to adopt an infinite mindset must follow five essential practices: Advance a Just Cause Build Trusting Teams Study your Worthy Rivals Prepare for Existential Flexibility Demonstrate the Courage to Lead

When we play in a finite game, we play the game to win. Even if we hope to simply play well and enjoy the game, we do not play to lose. The motivation to play in an infinite game is completely different—the goal is not to win, but to keep playing. It is to advance something bigger than ourselves or our organizations.

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

Being for something, in contrast, is about feeling inspired. Being for ignites the human spirit and fills us with hope and optimism.

Where the first offers us a problem to solve, the second offers a vision of possibility, dignity and empowerment.

Markets will rise and fall, people will come and go, technologies will evolve, products and services will adapt to consumer tastes and market demands. We need something with permanence for us to rally around.

“Being the best” and statements like that are egocentric statements that place the company as the primary subject (and thus the primary beneficiary) of their vision. They don’t help make the company relevant to those who buy from the company.

For companies that place their product above all else, which is fairly common among technology or engineering companies, it leaves people who are not engineers or product designers feeling like (and sometimes actually treated like) second-class citizens in their own companies.

Service is not an ornament. It is a touchstone.

Henry Ford said, “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.” Companies exist to advance something—technology, quality of life or anything else with the potential to ease or enhance our lives in some way, shape or form.

The fact is, we all want to feel like our work and our lives have meaning. It’s part of what it means to be human. We all want to feel a part of something bigger than ourselves.

The three pillars—to advance a purpose, protect people and generate a profit—seem to be essential in the Infinite Game.

A better question to ask is, “How do I create an environment in which my people can work to their natural best?”

For the feeling of trust to develop, we have to feel safe expressing ourselves first. We have to feel safe being vulnerable.

When we are not on a Trusting Team, when we do not feel like we can express any kind of vulnerability at work, we often feel forced to lie, hide and fake to compensate.

Performance is about technical competence. How good someone is at their job. Do they have grit? Can they remain cool under pressure? Trust is about character. Their humility and sense of personal accountability. How much they have the backs of their teammates when not in combat. And whether they are a positive influence on other team members.

To help them feel safe from humiliation, for example, he depersonalized the problems his executives faced. “You have a problem,” he would tell them. “You are not the problem.”

Infinite games, remember, require infinite strategies.

Ethical fading, however, is a people problem. And counterintuitive though it may seem, we need people—not paperwork, not training, not certifications—to fix people problems. The best antidote—and inoculation—against ethical fading is an infinite mindset.

its pursuit of the Just Cause is a journey of constant self-improvement. At too many companies, the term “constant improvement” often means improving process and enhancing efficiency.

If we are a player in an infinite game, however, we have to stop thinking of other players as competitors to be beaten and start thinking of them as Worthy Rivals who can help us become better players.

Traditional competition forces us to take on an attitude of winning. A Worthy Rival inspires us to take on an attitude of improvement.

Cause Blindness blunts humility and exaggerates arrogance, which in turn stunts innovation and reduces the flexibility we need to play the long game.

Where a finite-minded player fears things that are new or disruptive, the infinite-minded player revels in them.

Courage, as it relates to leading with an infinite mindset, is the willingness to completely change our perception of how the world works.

We can wait for a life-altering experience that shakes us to our core and challenges the way we see the world. Or we can find a Just Cause that inspires us; surround ourselves with others with whom we share common cause, people we trust and who trust us; identify a Rival worthy of comparison that will push us to constantly improve; and remind ourselves that we are more committed to the Cause than to any particular path or strategy we happen to be following right now.

And as we advance we work to help those around us rise. To live our lives with an infinite mindset is to live a life of service.

like all infinite games, in the game of life, the goal is not to win, it is to perpetuate the game. To live a life of service.