# Infinite Leadership Brainstorming

###### tags: `Leadership` `Brainstorming`

## Overview

[Simon Sinek](https://twitter.com/simonsinek) introduced the concept of infinite games and finite games to us.

In the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world in which we live, the most successful leaders and organization are learning to play the infinite game, not the finite one. The “game” of leadership and business is an infinite game where the rules change frequently, competitors come and go, and there is no end point to the game. You are either ahead or behind. There is no ultimate winner or loser. The infinite game continues indefinitely until someone loses the _will_ or _resources_ to keep playing.

Resources are well understood. Money, intellectual property, people, technology, etc. We have to have the capital we need to run a business. But what about will? Sinek shared five must-have components of will if we are to succeed in the infinite game.

## The 5 Practices to lead in the infinite game

### Just Cause

- Ask if you have a cause that people would sacrifice for.
- Can we create personas for people who would work for the cause?

- What do people consider worthy?
- Let's go as deep as we can into basic human motivations like wanting the best for their loved ones and future generations

### Trusting Teams

- Have to inspire genuine teammates
- There is a way to work that can inspire love for service

### Worthy Adversary

### Existential Flexibility

### Courage to Lead

## Leaderchat.org Research

### Just cause

More than your “why” or purpose, a _just cause_ is what motivates you to get out of bed in the morning. It’s the passion or hunger that burns inside that compels you to do what you do. Your just cause is what powers you to outlast your competitors. It propels you forward in the face of adversity and empowers you to persevere when you feel like giving up.

### Vulnerable team

Sinek says being a vulnerable team doesn’t mean it’s acceptable for everyone to walk around crying. It means you’ve invested the time and energy to build a culture in your organization where people feel safe to be themselves. They can admit they don’t know something or that they made a mistake. They can take appropriate risks without fear of retribution or retaliation. If you’re people don’t feel safe, that is your fault, not theirs.

### Worthy adversary

In the infinite game, adversaries are acknowledged and treated with respect, but our success or failure isn’t measured against them. Ultimately we are competing against ourselves, and our success or failure should be measured against our _just cause_. Our adversaries may push us to improve our products, services, marketing, etc., but in the infinite game we are constantly striving to become a better version of ourselves in order to fulfill our _just cause_.

### Open playbook

Too many organizations pursue a variable cause with a fixed strategy, Sinek theorizes, rather than pursuing a fixed cause with a variable strategy. Having an open playbook means leaders and organizations are willing to have flexible strategies and plans that change as needed to pursue their _just cause_. An open playbook also means you are transparent with your strategies, so all members of the team can literally be on the same page. Leaders resist being too transparent with information because they fear losing control. They distrust how people will use that information so they hold it close to the vest. That only results in people making sub-optimal decisions because they don’t know all the plays in the playbook.

### Courageous leadership

Playing the infinite game requires leaders to prioritize the _just cause_above anything else. They are willing to stand up to the pressures of the Board, Wall Street, or popular sentiment, and stay true to their cause. This struggle is often too great for a single person to tackle alone, so it requires all the leaders of the organization to band together and act in alignment.