The advantage of infinite thinking
When short-term objectives define the purpose of a business, the business fails. Don't let this happen to you.
Author Simon Sinek is famous for his “start with why” concept, expressed in a best-selling book and a well-known TED Talk. Sinek’s most recent book, The Infinite Game, takes his thinking into a new dimension. Here, he is recommending a successful approach to business management.
In The Infinite Game, Sinek asks the reader to consider why businesses succeed or fail, why some last a long time while others wither away, and why some are loved by customers while others are merely tolerated. His conclusion is that too many companies fail because they follow “finite thinking.”
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Under finite thinking, business is managed by striving to meet short-term goals, such as profits and sales growth, without considering longer-term strategies that are best for customers. When short-term objectives define the purpose of a business, the business fails if those short-term objectives are not met, and to meet those short-term goals, a business often has to compromise its own values. This issue is exacerbated by too much emphasis on short-term investor return.
How does this apply professionals who provide benefit management advice to employers?
Following infinite thinking, we build long-term customer relationships between our organizations and our employer clients. This provides opportunities to add new products and enhance existing ones. Voluntary business gives us opportunities to enroll additional participants. Infinite thinking is a great source of sustained value in the benefits business. It is also a valuable ongoing service to the employer, because it helps them get the most out of their benefit dollars.
However, in my experience, it’s easy to fall into finite thinking, and our business is no exception. At times, we add too many products to the employers’ benefit programs, overloading employees. We urge employees to enroll in voluntary products to get maximum enrollment results, resulting in oversold and unhappy employees. All too often, we lose the employer as a customer.
Sinek observes that the best businesses combine infinite thinking with two other elements to build a sustaining business relationship with customers. One element is having a clear mission, a driving purpose that reflects the company’s values and conveys their approach to their own associates, their customers, and their investors. Sinek refers to a company’s driving mission as its “just cause.”
The second element is the importance of every person in an organization. Everyone should be empowered to take responsibility for the buck stopping at their desk when a customer needs help. Associates need the confidence that they have power to act when a customer asks for help. Organizations need an operating system that encourages this, where people understand that authority may come from an organizational chart, but responsibility and empowerment come from the organization’s mission and values.
I recommend reading The Infinite Game and Sinek’s associated online content. It provides a blueprint for building the kind of long-term business relationships with customers that create organically driven growth—the best kind of growth. Following the principles in this book will allow a business—and every associate—to prosper and perform at their best.
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