Notes, The infinite game
The notes are derived from Simon Sinek's "Infinite game". The notes are for personal use, but you might find them useful.
Keep in mind that this book lacks scientific rigour. The stories it provides make intuitive sense, but this wouldn't pass peer review, if it were a journal paper.
General stuff
- Learn to identify the context you're in.
- Understand what game your opponents are playing and adjust you strategy accordingly.
A just cause
Have a greater mission. Examples:
- If an American railroad company didn't have the mission to "promote the rail", but "to move people around" , it would have adapted to market changes. Perhaps it could have extended into airplanes, cars. But they were stuck and stagnated (at least in the USA, where railroads "lost" to automobiles and airplanes).
- Sony CD, tape vs Spotify
- Garmin and their dash navigators lost market share as smartphones grew in popularity and replaced dash-mounted GPS devices.
Write down your cause and have it formalized - it will be easier for someone to pick up the torch and carry on after your demise.
Other notes
- Shareholder interests vs consumers benefits / Adam Smith vs Milton Friedman.
- Where there is unbalance, there is unrest.
- Will vs resources.
- Fear can push us to choose the best finite option, at the risk of doing infinite damage.
- Culture = values + behaviour
- Drug dealers aren't trying to beat the police and win, they're just trying to stay in the game. So, don't choose "finite game" tactics against them.
- Lazy leadership = when you solve a problem without understanding the root cause, but by merely instituting a policy and expecting it to work. The time-sheets example, they were introduced without explaining the employees why they are needed and how they will solve the problem.
- The best solution to ethical failures is an infinite game mindset.
- Consider Patagonia stock( they are portrayed as a company with an infinite mindset and good ethics. (just checked it - it is a privately held company that hasn't gone through an IPO)
- Losing a rival is not necessarily the same as winning the game.