About: The only game in town
Below is a brief overview of levels 1 to 4 of the only game in town.
Notes to players:
I have removed the previous notes because they were wrong. I had written that to play in say level 3 you must be playing in levels 1, 2 and 3 at the same time That’s not actually true. I have also re-written the descriptions of levels 1–4. Here are my new notes to players:
- You are always playing at either level 1 or level 2.
- You may be playing at level 3 or both levels 3 and 4. You cannot be playing at level 4 without also playing at level 3.
- You may enter level 3 from either level 1 or level 2.
Level 1:
In level 1 you struggle to make enough money to sustain your role in the only game in town.
Most people, firms and organisations (public and civic orgs) in the world are in level 1. Here it’s a struggle to make ends meet, and when an unforeseen but frankly inevitable crisis hits, one that can only be addressed with money, you’re ‘in the shit’.
Life in level 1 is often extremely stressful. If you are lucky enough to have a job, life revolves around long hours of work for less money than you need to attain peace of mind and the quality of life you want for yourself and your family.
Organisations in level 1 struggle to pay their workers for their role in the only game in town. If you are in level 1, the chances are that you live in a place where most people around you also find themselves in level 1.
Your outlook may either be one of acceptance/resignation or you may be on a mission to break through to level 2.
Level 2:
Wow, if you’ve come here from level 1, I’m impressed! While some people are born in level 2, others must struggle to get here.
In level 2 your ‘income’ is sufficient to maintain your role in the ony game in town while enjoying a relatively high quality of life with good prospects for the future.
Money-related stress is not as regular and despair-ridden as it is in in level 1, but you know it could be if you’re unlucky or make the wrong choices. Here you can borrow money when you need it and you have access to the resources you need to access the opportunities available around you.
Moving from level 1 to level 2 requires access to resources and opportunities often not available in places where people typically live in level 1.
The most attractive and hopeful option for players at level 1 is to move to places where most people are playing in level 2, because there they can access more of the resources they need to live a better quality of life with better prospects.
Progressing through level 2 requires you as an individual or an organisation to differentiate yourself in the market.
As an individual, this requires you to develop your skills and experience so that you can grab opportunities that come your way. As an organisation it requires you to atrract, train and retain people with skills and experience so that together you can innovate.
Your prize for successfully progressing through level 2 is lower money-related stress, a higher standard of living and wellbeing and positive personal or brand recognition.
You (as an individual or organisation) and the places you live in are getting richer!
Level 3:
Level 3 is open to people in level 1 and level 2.
In level 3 you develop a greater awareness and understanding of the world from a higher perspective and you broaden your scope of consideration to society at large and the environmnet.
In level 3 the concept of social and environmental responsibility and impact emerges and begins to guide the choices people and organisations make.
As an individual, your habits, consumption patterns and investment strategies begin to align with your broader scope of consideration; as an organisation you adapt your strategies and processes to better meet the needs of your own workers, those across your value chain, your customers (over and above needs met in level 2), communities and the environment.
More and more people and organisations have progressed to level 3 than at any other point in human history.
Once people and organisations develop the level of consideration and awareness required in level 3, they enter a consitinuous process of change by innovating in response to their own needs, the needs of society and the environment.
The purpose of level 3 is to align individual needs with the needs of organisations and society at large.
Level 4:
You cannot enter level 4 without also playing in level 3.
To play the game in level 4 you must be continuously attaining a greater level of awareness and understanding of the world from a higher perspective and developing a broader scope of consideration.
You never stop playing in level 3.
While playing in level 3 and struggling to progress through levels 1 and 2, you have the opportunity of entering level 4.
In level 4 your perspective changes not by increasing your awareness and understanding (that you are always doing in level 3), but by changing your focus in a way that reveals the system itself, a system of systems.
You realise that everyone, people and organisations, are all in the same system, interconnected in the only game in towm. Together we are co-creating the future we see in the world.
The purpose of level 4 is to make the game easier and fairer for everyone to play together in levels 2 and 3, and to achieve this through systemic change – social and organisational design amd reengineering.
The purpose of level 4 is to make the game easier and fairer for everyone to play in levels 2 and 3, through susteniic change – social and organisational design and engineering.
Whichever levels you are playing in right now, welcome to the only game in town!
I invite you to subscribe to my blog to be notofied of future posts. Thanks for reading, and good luck and courage to all of you in the only game in town!
