The Infinite Game
Simon Sinek
Do you know how to play the game you're in. In finite games, like football or chess, the players are known, the rules are fixed, and the endpoint is clear. The winners and losers are easily identified. more
251 pages, Hardcover
First published Portfolio
4.17
Rating
23187
Ratings
2065
Reviews
Simon Sinek
106 books 10226 followers
Simon Sinek is an optimist. He believes in a bright future and our ability to build it together.Described as “a visionary thinker with a rare intellect,” Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people. With a bold goal to help build a world in which the vast majority of people go home everyday feeling fulfilled by their work, Sinek is leading a movement to inspire people to do the things that inspire them.
Sinek’s unconventional and innovative views on business and leadership have attracted international attention and have earned him invitations to meet with an array of leaders and organizations, including: Microsoft, MARS, SAP, Intel, 3M, the United States Military, members of the United States Congress, multiple government agencies and entrepreneurs. Sinek has also had the honor of presenting his ideas to the Ambassadors of Bahrain and Iraq, at the United Nations and to the senior leadership of the United States Air Force.
Sinek is an adjunct staff member of the RAND Corporation, one of the most highly regarded think tanks in the world. He is also active in the arts and not-for-profit world, working with Education for Employment Foundation to help create opportunities for young men and women in the Middle East region. When not in hotels, he lives in New York, where he teaches graduate level strategic communications at Columbia University.
Community reviews
I was going to avoid reading this book and I knew I was going to fail to avoid reading this book because these sorts of books are my weakness. I did not like for the same reason I knew I was not going to like it: it's a book full of cherrypicked stories of success and failure that tries to tie up a theory into a neat binary that shows how to fail and how to succeed. In this book, it's about infinite games vs. finite games. And the same stories of success: apple vs. more
This is a review of the book and not the concept. And full disclosure: I’m a Simon Sinek stan and I have been powerfully moved by Start With/Find Your Why and it was a catalyst for wholesale review of my leadership approach. Leaders Eat Last was similarly inspiring. The concept of infinite rather than finite games is compelling. The first chapter adequately explains finite and infinite games, explains what a just cause is and how to measure/identify it. more
Sinek had an interesting idea, one that is worth exploring: finite VS infinite games. The first chapter covers it. All the rest are stories trying to fit a loose framework built to make it a book. It should be a (very good) medium post, in my view. more
This is a good book which takes the concept of finite/infinite games to organizations and their leaders. While I never felt like putting it down even once, in retrospect, I think most of what Simon Sinek wanted to say, could have been said in less than fifty pages. But I guess that is par for the course. And I am happy I started off 2020 with this book. more
For the first half of the book I thought “a typical Sinek: Good Message but probably could have been half the pages”. Then came the parts where he talks about the negative impact of the „Shareholder value“ concept coined by Milton Friedman and introduces the concept of „Ethical Fading“ that happens on the race to win or to reach short term results/KPIs. (BTW: If you need another reason for disliking Friedman, I can highly recommend Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine)Anyway, these hit home with me, having worked the majority of my career in financially driven companies and seen the exact effects he describes. I repeat EXACTLY what he describes with ALL its consequences. I‘ve never been really comfortable with that world view, have been balancing out its effects on an operational level for many years and can honestly say, it disillusioned me quite a bit. more
It's like a new way of seing my life and my business. I could say that in some way for me is a new mental model, I just incorporated. Anyway, a great read that completed ideas I already had in mind mind, but didnt know how to articulate them and put them into practice. more
کتاب بسیار جذاب و مفیدیه. هم موضوع بسیار گیراست و هم سایمون سینک به بهترین نحو بیانش می کنه. این کتاب صرف نظر از شغل، جایگاه شغلی و . ، می تونه بسیار مفید باشه. اینکه بدونیم در چه بازی هایی حضور داریم و نوع بازی ها محدود یا نامحدود هستند، می تونه کمک مون کنه که بهتر بازی کنیم و عملکرد بهتری داشته باشیم. more
“Our lives are finite, but life is infinite. We are the finite players in the infinite game of life. We come and go, we’re born and we die, and life still continues with us or without us. There are other players, some of them are our rivals, we enjoy wins and we suffer losses, but we can always keep playing tomorrow (until we run out of the ability to stay in the game). And no matter how much money we make, no matter how much power we accumulate, no matter how many promotions we’re given, none of us will ever be declared the winner of life”. more
Read the actual Carse book that this book is based on instead of the mutated regurgitation in this book. The five “lessons” are generic enough to find in any old business book and the examples are retrofitted to each piece of trite advice, whether it makes sense or not. . more
So, Simon Sinek decides to publish yet another book about Leadership. No Wonder. His last book - Leaders Eat Last is an epic. His stories reminded of moral science stories that were told over and over again in our childhood. To push us down the path of morality, ethics etc. more
I'll give this book a rather generous 4 stars. It starts slow and seemingly as pure author conjecture. Basically, the point is that it if you only focus on the near-term results you'll lose over the long term. It's a concept you want to believe in. However, for the first half of the book, there is little support for the case. more
Mais um baita livro que deveria ser um artigo. O Simon Sinek tava tão sem o que falar que ele repetiu pela milésima vez a história de como a Kodak mandou mal por não aderir a câmera digital e como a Blockbuster poderia ter comprado a Netflix. Recomendo que vejam essa entrevista: youtube. com/watch. v=V2K4VqkfRaM e leiam o primeiro capítulo do livro. more
I got the first warning with Find Your WHY that Sinek's "best before" might be passing but I ignored this warning hoping to find something at the level of Start with WHY or Leaders Eat Last, but this book does not reach to that level. I was annoyed by the fact how the author was conflicting with his own preaching (tolerance and seeking synergies) when coming back again and again to criticize Jack Welch (General Motors), Microsoft (while over-idealizing Apple), Collins and others. In some cases it felt that he was just criticizing without really understanding in wider context what he was talking about (i. e. reproaching Buffet and saying that share buybacks are almost always a bad sign). more
این کتاب فراتر از یه کتاب موفقیت بود پس لازم میبینم که براش ریویو بنویسم. تا انتهای فصل ۱۰ همه چیز عالی بود. طرح این ایده که رهبران باید به چیزی ورای پول اهمیت بدن و اون چیز مهم تر قاءل شدن ارزش انسانی برای زیردستان هست. یک رهبر واقعی برای ارتقای کیفیت همه جانبه ی زندگی افرادش می جنگه و دیدش به اونا چیزی بیشتر از نیروی کار و درآمدزایی هست. و اما از آغاز فصل ۱۱ به بعد. more
I put it down about a 3rd of a way in, didn't finish. I wanted to like it. I like to watch Simon's talks at conferences. I saw him talk about the concept 2 year ago and loved it, still do. But he lost me already on the second paragraph of the book. more
Amazingly inspirational, as everything that comes from Simon Sinek is. All concepts he introduces seem so straightforward, yet it's mindboggling how far they are from the reality we live in. The main idea of the book is that unlike finite games where we fight to win, life and business are an infinite game. There can't be a winner in an infinite game. It's impossible to be the best, you can just strive to continuously become better. more
This book is by far the best one coming out of the author. If "Start with WHY" can be summarized in 20 minute video (Check Simon's TEDx video with the same title) "The Infinite Game" is way, way deeper and more meaningful. It hits important ideas like "vision" and "values" from the management perspective. There are no repetitive examples and stories, the summaries are simple and straight-forward and I am simply blown away by the first listen (I'm an audiobook enthusiast), I can wait to start over again with a pen and paper as there are plenty of stuff that I need to get my head around written inside. I highly recommend that you read and try to comprehend the idea about "the infinite game". more
من برای ردگیری مطالب مهم و تاثیرگذار کتاب‌هام توشون کنار پاراگراف‌ها نقطه و ستاره می‌زارم. یکی دو سه نقطه، یکی دو سه ستاره و اینا. این کتاب از این پاراگراف‌ها برای من خیلی کم داشت. شاید زودتر از موعد خوندم. چون آدمی مثل مصطفی نقی‌پور که تجربه داشتن اون همه کسب‌وکار و مدیریتشون رو داره می‌گفت پاراگراف به پاراگراف این کتاب ارزشمنده. more
Sinek gives powerful and encouraging words to addressing the tension felt in profit driven leadership and argues for a human centered mindset that orbits around vision and mission, what he calls a "Just Cause". This book is for you if you ever longed or dreamed to be a different type of leader who does more than excel at corporate growth, but to be a leader who moves others to the most good. I highly recommend The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek. more
I don't normally like business inspiration books, but The Infinite Game doesn't hold back. It's not a list of great CEOs, it's a list of the worst CEOs and how we can learn from their mistakes. What a fascinating angle and book. Give it a read. more
Loved the ideas in this book, & plan on re-reading it so I can absorb more. Especially now withbthe climate challenges facing our world, an infinite mindset is imperative. more
Of Simon Sinek’s books on leadership, I thought this one worked better as a book than his previous works which could have been summed up in a short article or TED talk. He admits himself, infinite games are not a new idea, but one that he is trying to popularize. This book brings back to mind, compliments, and actually helps to explain in layman’s terms, a more difficult book from my military education called Pure Strategy that similarly argued that the goal of any leader should be continuation rather than culmination or final victory. I like many of the ideas that Sinek uses throughout the book and agree with most of it. Especially a more conscientious capitalism that cares about employees and communities as well as profits. more
I really liked the way Simon Sinek explains why it is so important Having an infinite mindset and avoiding short term goals…. more
This is such a well-timed book for the internship I have right now because I can see how the company is playing the game they are in. All the case studies in this book reinforce the idea of having an approach to the business your in as an infinite game. This goes contrary to what most businesses do and what seems logical, that nothing lasts forever and milk it for all its worth. Plus you add variables like pleasing the shareholders who seek appreciation and dividends on their investments, and that makes the game more short term and finite. There are also case studies that display the bad that can happen when you play the game as if it is a finite game. more
باسمه🔰 اسم «سایمون سینک» رو اولین بار سر یکی از کلاس‌های ارشد شنیدم. استاد درس مهندسی و مدیریت کیفیت توصیه کردن به خوندن کتاب‌هایی از ایشون و چنتا هم تحقیق در گذاشتن و این موارد. 🔰 قبلاً اسم کتاب «رهبران آخر غذا می‌خورند» رو از همین نویسنده شنیده بودم؛ ولی با توجه به تجربیات منفی که از خوندن کتاب‌هایی پرطمطراق و کم محتوایی با این عناوین داشتم، سمتش نرفته بودم. 🔰 بازی بی نهایت. عنوان و توضیحات این کتاب برام جالب بود؛ ولی اون بدبینی کلی رو همچنان حفظ کرده بودم و بیشتر دنبال نقاطی بودم که بگم: «می‌دونستم به درد نمی‌خوره» و تمام. more
Well written with lots of good advice, as usual. In this book, Simon Sinek is not trying to make a point or "win" the argument, he is simply trying to share with his readers his vision of a world where everyone feels happy and fulfilled. Once he explains what an "infinite mindset" leader is and how she thinks, he moves on to provide several traps and landmines of trying to operate with an infinite mindset in a world that is largely "finite minded". The traps are often set by our own tendencies and additions. He provides great examples, some from his own experience, on how a person who wants to have an infinite mindset could reframe their problems and thoughts in order to see them in light of what he calls the Just Cause, i. more
Recenzia pe blog:https://costin. ro/simon-sinek-jocul-i. «Jocul infinit» este o carte pe care dacă aș fi citit-o în urmă cu 10 ani sunt sigur că n-aș fi acceptat două dintre locurile de muncă pe care le-am avut. Sau aș fi făcut lucrurile cu totul altfel în cadrul companiilor respective. Mai mult decât atât, am realizat că n-aș fi avut nici (cel puțin) două dintre relațiile personale. more
Decent point but did we need an entire book on it. Not really. A Ted Talk would have sufficed. Basically you can't "win" in life or in business. It's not about "finishing" it's more about the perpetual adaptation, and growth. more
I heard about this a lot on twitter and wanted to give it a try. Like many business books, it uses the formula of taking a simple premise and attributing the success of every successful company to simply following the title of the book. It probably could have been a tweet stream more than a book, but overall it was still a pretty good read (and I definitely like the premise overall, even if it’s a bit simplistic). more
