Digital transformation — #1 The infinite game
Almost two months ago I stumbled across a reference to the book “The Infinite Game” by Simon Sinek — The New York Times-bestselling author of “Start With Why”, “Leaders Eat Last”, and “Together Is Better”.
In this book he offers a rather bold approach to business strategy by asking one question: are you playing the finite game or the infinite game?
Listening to him describe the book in an interview — https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=Ar20m23XY_c -activated the neurons that I needed to make a decision to actively participate in the debate regarding the quest for the holy grail of innovation — that is speeding up faster and faster everywhere you look regardless if it is has to do with personal matters or within business.
So — after some preparations and re-considerations I have now pulled myself together and found enough time and peace of mind to actually start publishing things.
I will in this format — and maybe others — share my ideas and thoughts around the areas of leadership, innovation, digital transformation and how that links to enterprise architecture capabilities and IT solutions — to find better ways to build more innovative and inspiring business where IT is a helper not a hinderer.
So let’s get back to the book!
What is the concept of “The Infinite Game” and the description of the finite and the infinite game?
An easy way to describe it would be that -
In finite games, like football, ice-hockey or cricket, the players are known, the rules are fixed, and when and how the game ends is clear. The winners and losers are easily identified.
In infinite games, like business, marriage, education, politics or possibly life itself, the players come and go, the rules are changeable, and there is no defined endpoint. There are no winners or losers in an infinite game; there is only temporary states of ahead and behind
This become interesting when it comes both to leadership, motivation and innovation/transformation within companies.
Why — you might ask.
Well simply because leaders of most companies — and also countries — are applying finite game rulings on the infinite games they are involved in. Applying these finite mindsets makes these organizations lag behind in innovation, discretionary effort, morale and ultimately performance.
Embracing the infinite mindset would build stronger, more innovative, more inspiring organizations.
This is the concept of the book of Simon Sinek and reading the excerpt (the book is to be released in October 2019), listening to him talk of his theory and the origins of it (“Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse — see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_and_Infinite_Games) really flabbergasted me.
All of a sudden I felt this sensation of someone putting words to the overall feeling I so often have when being a part of an organization/entity that desperately seeks to change and be more innovative, disruptive or customer centric — but cannot.
The leaders are not abiding to what should be the rules of the game, but are instead locked in their positions by arbitrary KPI:s, short term profits or simply by the rules of how to gain power.
So when all businesses are in a quest for success they are today seeing Innovation as the lifeblood and the new currency of customer loyalty — something like a holy grail.
In this search for the “holy grail of innovation” — to find ways and means of creating an enabling environment within a company to ignite the innovation process, the leaders have to bear in mind that they are in an infinite game and find the just cause-/s (purpose) of the company.
A company lead by finite rules and arbitrary KPI:s cannot compete with the disruptor that won’t cling to the old models but are ready to re-define the rules and the playground to better suit what the world and their actors actually resemble in the moment.
So to achieve motivated co-workers, creative ideas and an innovation culture — we need to find and drive the companies more based on the “Why” of the company than the arbitrary “What’s” that we so often turn to. Like the stakeholder supremacy (that hold little respect of the customer loyalty) , the increased revenue (that holds little respect of the employee loyalty and motivation) and the turn-over (that only gives you an imaginary safezone based on what was done yesterday).
Instead we need to listen and support creative and engaged spirits within — and outside — the company that can help not only to survive but prosper in the long term. By admitting flaws and uncertainties and embracing the team and what can be achieved together when focusing on the right things.
So how — you might ask — can we start a journey that changes — and empowers — a brave leadership and helps us move in a direction where cause and ideation is a part of the day to day journey and where innovation and the digital transformation that we desperately want comes natural?
Stay tuned and read more about this in “#2 — What is the cause of our company”
