According to Simon Sinek, most leaders don’t even know the game they are in. He explains it in his new book The Infinite Game. In the book, he explains that to be a leader you need two things – empathy and perspective. Many leaders focus on their status and position in the organization. They forget their real job. It is not about being in charge, it’s about taking care of those in your charge.
The Basis of the Problem
As you start to work, you just need to be good at your job. If you are good at your job, you’ll get promoted. Eventually, you will get promoted to oversee the people who are doing the job you use to do. The problem is we are not trained on how to do that job. As a result, we get managers and not leaders. These managers micromanage because they do know how to do the job which is how they got promoted.
The Transformation
To be successful you have to transform from being responsible for the job to responsible for the people who are responsible for the job. Leadership is a skill that can be learned. You have to work on it. The work involves sacrifice. When things go well you need to give others the credit. When things go wrong, you need to take full responsibility. You have to take the time to train your people. When one of them fails, it means not taking over but saying ‘try again.’
First You Need Empathy
You hear about getting the right people on the bus. It’s not the people, it’s getting the right leadership. If you create the right environment, you will attract the right people. If your people are having problems, are you practicing empathy? For example, a person’s numbers are down for the 3rd Quarter in a row. Is your response: ‘You need to get them up or you may not have a job?’ (this is not empathy). Or is your response, ‘You ok? I am worried about you. What’s going on?’ (this is empathy). With empathy your concern is for the person, not just their output. It is not as you may have heard – How do I get the best and most out of my people? Empathy is about – How do I help my people be at their natural best?
The GAME
There are two kinds of ‘games’ -Finite and Infinite. In the Finite Game, you have known players, fixed rules, agreed-upon objectives e.g. Football – the winner is the team with the most points at the end of the game. The game is over after 4 quarters. When you have two playing a finite game, the system is stable.
In the Infinite Game, you have both known and unknown players, the rules are changeable, and the objective is to keep the game going. When you have two playing an infinite game, the system is also stable.
The Problem
Problems occur when you have someone playing a finite game against someone playing an infinite game. The finite player is playing to win and the infinite player is playing to keep the game going. For example, we (the United States) were fighting to win in Vietnam (Finite game) and they (the Vietnamese) were fighting for their lives (Infinite game). The game of business can be played as a Finite or Infinite Game depending upon your perspective.
Second You Need Perspective
One perspective is the Finite Game. We want to beat our competition. We want to be #1. Based on what criteria? Is it sales, profit, market share, sales per S.F., number of employees, etc.? Based on what time frame? Is it a quarter, a year, 5-10-25 years, etc.? Based on one of these criteria, a company may feel they have won. However, in reality, they have not won because there is no end to the game. There is another quarter, year, etc.
Sinek points to is Apple, SW Airlines, and Harley Davidson, as companies playing the Infinite Game. They have a different perspective. They are not playing to win for a quarter or a year. As the CEO of COSTCO said, “we’re not looking to the next quarter, we’re looking at the next 50 years.” Historically Microsoft spent most of its focus on beating Apple (a Finite Game). At Apple their focus was on how to help teachers to teach and to help students to learn (an Infinite Game). Apple is focused on their why and where they are going. They are not focused on their competition. They are competing with themselves. They understand sometimes you are ahead and sometimes you’re behind. Sometimes your products are better and sometimes they are not. Their focus is on how can we make our products better? How can we take care of our customers better? How do we find new solutions to advance our cause/our purpose? Those who play the infinite game understand it’s not about the battle, it’s about the war. So they don’t play to win every day. They play until their competition drops out of the game, e.g. bankruptcy, or they merger with another company so they can stay in the game.
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
If you are looking for new ideas and a new perspective, we can help. Most CEO’s and their management team are good at working in their business, they often are not good at working on the business. Hiring a business coach provides an outside, objective, and fresh look at your business and the challenges it is facing. This help can be a game changer.
How We Can Help
There are a wide variety of coaches. What makes us different is our understanding of WHY your company is acting as it is today. We can help you see the critical plays you need to pay attention to in order to improve profits, productivity and performance. As a Certified Growth Curve Specialist, we are able to determine your key challenges based on your number of employees and actually help you predict what you need to do to stay ahead of your growth curve. If your company is growing or has stagnated but you are looking to get it growing again, we have tools no other coaches have. The tools are not theory. They are based on research. That research can help you understand the issues you are facing now and what will be coming at you next as you move into the next stage of growth.
Getting Started – A FREE Test Drive
If this approach is new to you, you should investigate it further. At each stage of growth, there are five top challenges you will face. You can take a FREE 27 Challenge Assessment and compare your answers to what James Fisher found in his research. It will not only give you better insight into your Top 5 Challenges, but you will receive a Special Report for your Stage of Growth. The Report will provide you with the following:
- 5 Biggest Challenges for your firm’s stage of growth
- Tools to Build Your Business
- 5 Non-Negotiable Rules for your firm’s stage of growth
- Business Building Blocks
- Getting Ready for the next Stage of Growth
To take the FREE 27 Challenge Assessment go to https://www.trwconsulting16.com/ and click on Take 27 Challenge Assessment.