Our book shelf is always bursting at the seams with the latest reads. So, in the spirit of sharing, we decided to create a book club. Read on for our review of ‘The Infinite Game’, by Simon Sinek.
What is The Infinite Game all about?
Sinek says it’s surprising that this book even needs to exist. But it does. The Infinite Game is a strong reminder that those who operate with an infinite mindset (with a clear cause, and priority of people over profit) build stronger, more innovative and more inspiring organisations than those with a finite mindset (with a focus on near-term results and arbitrary targets).
Who is it for?
If you’re interested in company culture, growth mindset and creating fulfilling employee experiences this one’s for you.
The best bits
The three things I enjoyed most are:
Now is the time for an infinite mindset
In the book you’ll find two options for finding the courage to take on an infinite mindset:
1. We can wait for a life-altering experience that shakes us to our core and challenge the way we see the world
2. We can find a ‘just cause’ that inspires us
I think we can all agree that number one is happening right now! So now is a great time to reflect on what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and how we’re working to see if we’re set up to stay in the infinite game.
Worthy Rivals
With a finite mindset, we can get caught up and distracted by our competitors (people or businesses); watching what they do and focusing on beating them (according to a set of arbitrary metrics of comparison).
With an infinite mindset, instead of thinking of competitors as people/organisations to beat, we can consider them as rivals worthy of comparison. Worthy rivals have strengths that we don’t and can help us become better by pushing us to constantly improve.
Will before resources
This isn’t a new idea. It reinforces the importance of putting people before profit. But rather than think of it as an either/or choice, we can consider it as a matter of mindset:
“Where finite-minded organisations view people as a cost to be managed, infinite-minded organisations prefer to see employees as human beings whose value cannot be calculated as if they were a piece of machinery.”
Would you like to read The Infinite Game?
Once we’ve finished reading a book, we share the headlines and then pass it on to anyone who wants to read it – just send us a message and we’ll pop it in the post. Once you’re done with it, let it live forever on your shelf or share it with someone new.
As always, if you’d like to read this book, email nikki@wearethecultureclub.co.uk
