Prelude: What I have written builds on the concepts from Simon Sinek’s book, The Infinite Game. I would highly recommend giving this a read if you find these thoughts interesting.
Sinek postulates that people have different ways to approach their actions - either by thinking about playing an infinite game or a finite one.
Infinite games are ones that outlast every player in it and has a revolving door of players and circumstances, whereas finite games have an end date and as a result can be less dynamic with all the factors known. What the technical defintion hides is that this is entirely perception based. Players can be playing the same game with either an infinite or finite perception and as a result they have very different mindsets. In general, the infinite mindset leads to more long term positive outcomes for all the stakeholder involved because the infinite player understands that the
The infinite game mindset is just as valuable to corporations as it is to individuals. The more that people stop thinking selfishly about their lives only but expand it to every future generation and humanity as a whole, the less we will jeopardize the long term vision for the short term benefits. Topics like sustainable living and empathy will be more at the forefront of people’s minds and could lead to a healthier society that is built to survive together for the long haul.
The consequences of our collective approach to life as finite game is everywhere. Governments wildly unprepared for a pandemic while knowing about this possibility for years, almost irreversible climate change that literally only a world wide virus was able to help with, division and polarization of citizens into different camps. These are all signs of short term vision without the infinite game mindset.
Sadly the crux of all of this boils down to one single, difficult to pratice, idea - delayed gratification. Finite games and thinking can be addictive and self-reinforcing. With corporations abandoning ethics in exchange for profit can lead to high profits and growth in the short term, but it compromises the long term outlook of the company’s culture, potentially leading to more cut throat employees who contribute to a toxic culture which can eventually lead to the company’s downfall if unchecked. For individuals, thinking only about current ease often sacrifices the long term. The riots that we see in the USA are also indicative of the short sightedness. While I am absolutely for systemic change, dangerous ideas such as black-only institutions propagate a tit-for-tat behavior that signals that lack of vision for the future and the need for drastic and immediate justice for the past.