Review: The Infinite Game - How to Lead in the 21 Century

tl;dr: See summary below.

Even in the world of technology, it's important to understand how to lead. Else, you'll get left behind. Now, this doesn't mean that you have to lead everyone and become the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. But, this does mean that you should want to become the next point guy on your team or even an adviser to your team lead when a decision pertains to a specific context like, for example, "optimizing team ergonomics for better team collaboration."

But, how do you lead in a world filled with leaders? How do you become a leader when the whole world is promoting leadership? Furthermore, how do show leadership when many recruiters are looking for experts who can lead?

If you don't already know the answer, then I'll direct you to Simon Sinek.

My Summary

"In an infinite game, there is no such thing as win or lose; only ahead or behind." - Simon Sinek

The only real competitor in an infinite game is - yourself.

5 Things to become an Infinite Game Leader

1. Just Cause
2. Trust in Teams
3. Worthy Adversary
4. Existential Flexibility
5. Courage to Lead

Happy Leading!

My Side Note

Simon Sinek antagonistically quotes Milton Friedman saying, "He said, 'the responsibility of business is to maximize profits within the bounds of the law.'"

"If businessmen do have a social responsibility other than making maximum profits for stockholders, how are they to know what it is?" - Milton Friedman (more quotes , movie)

This kind of mindset (and lack of heart) is really bad. If I may and I'm no Simon Sinek, then I would like to add one more thing to his points on becoming a person with an "infinite game" mindset. When leading, know that your team will have high-performing times and low-performing times. Although corporations still push for a single performance review, know that it's unrealistic to believe that each individual will function at the level of high-performance, always. A good leader recognizes the high performing days and the low performing days while accepting the whole person (i.e. team member). A good leader encourages his/her team to focus on team performance rather than individual performance. After all, no business survives on an individual.

If interested, see Adam Smith's original vision for Capitalism.