The Infinite Game

Simon Sinek wrote this one about a year ago and I’m just now getting into it. I love Simon’s take on a lot of things. I was first was introduced to him via his Ted Talk on Start with Why.

Here’s the video of it so you can meet him too.

The Infinite Game has me thinking about how that concept applies to real estate. The question comes to mind “What’s the point?” or “What’s the goal?”. To be Top Listing Agent for September 2020 is a Finite Game goal but I’m thinking business is not a Finite Game. Simon says “Finite games are played by known players. They have fixed rules. And there is an agreed-upon objective that, when reached, ends the game.“

The business of real estate is not like that. It’s an Infinite Game.

To quote Simon “Infinite games have infinite time horizons. And because there is no finish line, no practical end to the game, there is no such thing as “winning” an infinite game. In an infinite game, the primary objective is to keep playing, to perpetuate the game.”

This gives me the idea that being a top listing agent is of little to no importance unless it was your goal to beat what you did the month before. Not to compete with others but to compete against yourself and work to stay in the game as long as possible.

Another quote “No matter how successful we are in life, when we die, none of us will be declared the winner of life.”.

I’m only about 20% of the way through the book but thought I’d share some of it to see if you have read it, want to comment on it, or just join in on the discussion. Comments are welcome.

Today, I’m learning about the Just Cause part of his theory today. He says “A Just Cause must be: For something—affirmative and optimistic Inclusive—open to all those who would like to contribute Service oriented—for the primary benefit of others Resilient—able to endure political, technological and cultural change Idealistic—big, bold and ultimately unachievable”.

Some examples would be The Declaration of Independence with its clause of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and his “I have a dream” vision of the future. These things give us a direction, a goal to work toward that will likely take more than our personal life.

It is what drives us and is different than our Big Why. We have to have a Just Cause to see a path for the future and our Why is giving direction on How we achieve our Just Cause. It’s interesting to read and reflect on all this.

Simon says his just cause is “To build a world in which the vast majority of us wake up every single morning inspired, feel safe at work and return home fulfilled at the end of the day.” Personally, I think I could get behind that as a cause and reason to keep mentoring agents in doing this business by referral.

I’ll come back next week with some more of this to chew on.

Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson