The Infinite Game

by Simon Sinek

As human beings we are naturally inclined to seek out immediate solutions to uncomfortable problems and prioritize quick wins to advance our ambitions.

A finite-minded leader uses the company’s performance to demonstrate the value of their own career. An infinite-minded leader uses their career to enhance the long-term value of the company

It is not technology that explains failure; it is less about technology, per se, and more about the leaders’ failure to envision the future of their business as the world changes around them.

As Henry Ford said, “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.”

The constant abuse since the late 1970s has left us with a form of capitalism that is now, in fact, broken. It is a kind of bastardized capitalism that is organized to advance the interests of a few people who abuse the system for personal gain, which has done little to advance the true benefits of capitalism as a philosophy (as evidenced by anticapitalist and protectionist movements around the globe).

The defenders of finite-minded capitalism act in a way that actually imperils the survival of the very companies from which they aim to profit. It’s as if they have decided that the best strategy to get the most cherries is to chop down the tree.

But make no mistake, change is coming. Because that’s how the Infinite Game works. This finite system we have now will run itself dry of will and resources eventually. It always does. It always does.

Noah’s managers at the Four Seasons understand that their job is to set an environment for Noah in which he can naturally thrive. Leaders will work to create these environments when we train them how to prioritize their people over the results.

There is absolutely zero cost for a manager to take time to walk the halls and ask their people how they are doing . . . and actually care about the answers.

There is no way we can turn off our feelings simply because we are at work.

In other words, to build high-performing teams, trust comes before the performance.

“You have a problem,” he would tell them. “You are not the problem.”

leaders are not responsible for the results, leaders are responsible for the people who are responsible for the results.