Our rivals can make us better if we choose to study them rather than try to beat them. Do you feel that life is a competition—a game that must be won in a limited amount of time?
Well known, author and motivational speaker Simon Sinek says how “a worthy rival inspires us to take on an attitude of improvement.” Sinek admits that he first felt the need to compare himself to and despair about his perceived rival, Wharton professor Adam Grant. They shared a stage at a conference and both realized that there was no need to compete for book sales or any other marker. Since then, Sinek has turned his focus away from a limited mind set and arbitrary self-measurement and works only towards improving what he can offer to others.
Real leaders are the ones who think beyond ‘short term goals’ versus ‘long term goals.’ They are the ones who know that it is not about the next quarter, or the next examination or a few more years; it is about the next generation…because there is no finish line, no practical end to the game called life, there is no such thing as ‘winning’ an infinite game.” We face deadlines, like the one he had to finish the term or a race, but to succeed in the infinite game of life, we have to stop thinking about who wins or who’s the best and start thinking about how to build a system for the organizations that are strong enough and healthy enough to stay in the game for many generations to come. Or to think more broadly: Players with an infinite thinking want to leave their organizations, their loved ones and communities in a better shape than they found them and say “I lived a life worth living.”
We need to understand the things are to be used and people are to be loved. Putting people before your profit as often as possible is the key for a long term business. Business can make money and change the world yes but to make it last for a very very long time we need to have a leader’s thinking to nurture, train and support people that work with us and for us. Our rivals, no matter what they are, people or a scenario may be a phobia or a fear, can make us better if we see them more as inspiration then a competition.
Well known, author and motivational speaker Simon Sinek says how “a worthy rival inspires us to take on an attitude of improvement.” Sinek admits that he first felt the need to compare himself to and despair about his perceived rival, Wharton professor Adam Grant. They shared a stage at a conference and both realized that there was no need to compete for book sales or any other marker. Since then, Sinek has turned his focus away from a limited mind set and arbitrary self-measurement and works only towards improving what he can offer to others.
Real leaders are the ones who think beyond ‘short term goals’ versus ‘long term goals.’ They are the ones who know that it is not about the next quarter, or the next examination or a few more years; it is about the next generation…because there is no finish line, no practical end to the game called life, there is no such thing as ‘winning’ an infinite game.” We face deadlines, like the one he had to finish the term or a race, but to succeed in the infinite game of life, we have to stop thinking about who wins or who’s the best and start thinking about how to build a system for the organizations that are strong enough and healthy enough to stay in the game for many generations to come. Or to think more broadly: Players with an infinite thinking want to leave their organizations, their loved ones and communities in a better shape than they found them and say “I lived a life worth living.”
We need to understand the things are to be used and people are to be loved. Putting people before your profit as often as possible is the key for a long term business. Business can make money and change the world yes but to make it last for a very very long time we need to have a leader’s thinking to nurture, train and support people that work with us and for us. Our rivals, no matter what they are, people or a scenario may be a phobia or a fear, can make us better if we see them more as inspiration then a competition.
