Lessons Learned #2: Play the Infinite Game with an Abundance Mindset
Truth be told, my business partner Traci and I are very competitive people. We don’t like to lose. We set aggressive goals - and we love beating them. Much of that drive, especially in our early years, came from measuring ourselves relative to our competition.
While that kind of ambition is vital to fuel success as an entrepreneur, especially while getting a business off the ground to prove its viability, over time, I’ve come to see that a purely competitive, win-at-all-costs mindset is destructive and can actually limit long-term success.
This finite mindset takes too far the analogy of business as a “game” where there are “winners” and “losers”. And while business leaders can learn much from the sports world and the military, perhaps we aren’t playing quite the same game as our favorite sports team or an army at war.
Why a Finite Mindset Can Hurt Your Leadership & Business
It creates tunnel vision. You focus so much on “winning” that you miss opportunities to collaborate, innovate, or learn.
It fosters internal dysfunction. Scarcity at the top breeds insecurity throughout the organization. People compete inside the company instead of working together.
It limits transferability. Businesses built around a founder’s personal drive often struggle when that founder steps away.
Shifting Your Mindset
One phrase in particular that helped reframe my thinking was:
“You don’t have to own the ocean to sail on it.”
Most entrepreneurs don’t need to dominate an entire market to build a wildly successful business. You just need to serve your niche, or just even your subset of customers, incredibly well, and stay in the game long enough to keep evolving and adding value.
Simon Sinek’s The Infinite Game further helped me reinforce this mindset. He reminds us that business isn’t a winner-takes-all competition. There are no finish lines. The goal is to keep playing: to keep improving, adapting, and building something that lasts - ideally beyond you.
And that requires an abundance mindset - the belief that success isn’t scarce, that what we build can grow beyond us, and that our company and our competition both can succeed.
How to Lead with an Abundance Mindset
Whether your intention is to remain at your business indefinitely prior to selling or to exit in a few years, abundance-based leadership creates long-term value. Here are five practical ways to shift your approach:
Develop others instead of dominating the room: The most attractive businesses are those where leadership is distributed. Invest in a team that can think, act, and grow without you. How many months could you be on sabbatical and your business maintain its current level of performance?
Build a continuous improvement culture: Create a culture where learning and iteration are part of the company’s DNA, and that your team can learn as much from losses as from wins. How often is your team intentionally learning from both success and failures?
Be generous with knowledge and recognition: Give credit freely. Share ideas widely. Model the kind of abundance mindset you want to see exhibited by everyone in your business. When was the last time you and your team extended kudos internally and externally?
Let your competitors teach you: Respect, and even celebrate, your rivals. Their wins and innovations can sharpen your thinking, provide motivation and reveal new opportunities. What can you learn from your competition about how your company needs to improve?
Build for the long term: Buyers want to know the business will thrive after the founder leaves. Are you building the systems, values, and team depth that make that possible?
What It Looks Like to Play the Infinite Game
I’ve seen this “abundance minded, infinite game” mindset in action with many of the successful leaders and companies I coach. Here are a few real-world indicators:
1. They view competitors as catalysts
Rather than obsessing over viewing the competition negatively and in an adversarial way, infinite-game leaders ask, What can we learn from them? What do their successes reveal about our areas to improve?
2. They build beyond themselves
These leaders don’t build companies that revolve around them. They invest in systems, culture, and leadership that scale. They have #2 leaders they are developing that will one day take their place.
3. They prioritize legacy over short term results
Instead of chasing passing glory, they ask deeper questions: What will this business stand for after I’m gone? What kind of impact do I want it to have - on my employees, vendors, customers, the industry and even competitors?
Final Thoughts
Playing the infinite game isn’t idealistic - it’s good business. It helps you build a healthier company today, and a more valuable, transferrable business tomorrow.
So whether you’re in it for the next two decades or preparing for an exit in the next five years, zoom out, and lead with an abundance minded, infinite game mindset. Play the game as an honorable, worthy competitor. And remember:
You don’t have to own the ocean to sail on it.
