Infinite Games

Yesterday I was reading a job description and it was mentioned there , person should be able to handle pressure situations. Person should be be able to multitask . Sounds familiar ?

My question is, Multitasking is scientifically proven as inefficient and productivity reducing trait , but then why still its a norm in the IT industry

Pressure situations means fundamentally flawed management and leadership, but still we write it with pride in job description.

Similarly, Office dirty politics,  Harassment , exploitation , Back stabbing by your colleague , leg pulling, excessive workload, that dreadful feeling of job insecurity, insufficient recognition for the level of contribution, office rumors and gossips, mental stress, diabetes, Poverty, Global warming, Terrorism, Drug addiction, epidemic, Flood , drought, computer viruses, spam emails etc. These are not personal or local problems. These are global problems. None of us want these kind of problems but yet collectively we all are producing these problems and because of that we find ourselves at the verge of extinction. In fact we have threatened the very existence of the planet itself.

This all have become norms in the world we are living in. WE all have accepted these serious dysfunctions as part of our lives and have learnt to live along with this.

I have also been playing Victim of these traits that has grasped corporate culture top to bottom world over. I also get stressed out tremendously.

I did develop high cholesterol levels some time in past.

But somewhere , 5-6 years back I started feeling bored about this. There are many aspect of this but more than any thing I felt bored

Coz its every where.

in a classroom , colleges, social gatherings, Same goes with your family, Same goes in a team, in your neighbourhood, community, in organizations, etc etc

Its everywhere. But how could it be that wherever you go it structures up like this. Is this fundamental design pattern of our systems?

And if this is a design pattern, for sure people involved cannot be blamed for any of those negative traits.

I said to myself, How world is treating me is not in my control and therefore should not even be the question I would ask myself. The better questions is , How I am treating this world?

I said- come on , Greatest of the civilizations have flourished on this planet continued for more than 10000 years, greatest of the engineering projects of the like of Kailashnath temple, Brihadeshwar temple, Nazca lines, Puma Punku, MAchu pichu, have been built on this land where generations of people worked together flawlessly. Working flawless requires that blissful state of their mind.

This means there must be better approaches, methodologies and mindset where larger groups worked together more efficiently and productively blissfully.

Where is the problem ? Who is the culprit ? Are we even aware of the situations we are into?

Do we even know the game we are playing?

Friends , there is this wonderful human being called James Carse. He introduced this concept of Infinite games to the world.

Well, few years back I came across this concept , this thought process opened up altogether a different world for me.

A world of Finite and infinite GAmes .

If you have at least one competitor , you have a game.

Two types of Game : Finite and Infinite

Finite G Ames : fixed rules , known players, finite time, agreed upon objectives like team who scores most goals will win and we go home- Example: football is a finite game.

Infinite games : known and unknown players, dynamic rules they keep on changing, infinite time , objective is to perpetuate the game, to keep the game in play, no such things as winning or losing.

The cold war was stable coz we could not have a winner or looser. They kept on playing. There is no winning or loosing . when one of the player runs out of resources or will, they drop out like it happened to USSR. But the game continues with you or without u.

Problem arises when u place finite vs infinite player. Finite player plays to win while an infinite player plays to keep playing . Thats what happened with AMerica. America fought to win and Terrorists were fighting for their lives and to their last breath and thus they both made very different strategic choices. Finite player always find themselves in quagmire against in Finite player racing through the will and resources to stay in the game.

So this gets me thinking , what kinds pf situations are we surrounded with ? Marriage is an infinite game, friendship is an infinite game.

There is No such thing as winning in marriage, friendships, politics, and definitely no such thing as winning in Business. 

But if we listen to most of the leaders today , they don’t know the game they are in. They talk about being number one, being the best, beating your competition , which means majority of our leaders are playing an infinite game with Finite mindset. Which means they are running through will and resources and this results in bankruptcy or merger or an acquisition.

It leads to decline of trust, and causes dysfunction within the teams, families, organizations, between countries. decline of cooperation and innovation.

Which means we need to fundamentally readjust our mindset. We need to challenge our conventional systems. May be Our present collective intellect is fundamentally flawed.

So what I am trying to say here is that ,if you find yourself in perfect storm, if you are facing any problem, if you are upset, if someone is making you feel guilty or stressed , may be it’s time to explore that problem to its root cause, may be its time to re-define our systems , processes and tools. MAy be we need to be more aware of our situations. May be its time to take that next step of evolution. Coz there is always hope. May be some exploration is due on you . May be some innovation is due on you.

Knowledge is power. Knowing is owning.

This is the next movement . The revolution is coming.