Had no intentions of writing 3 Daily Hustles dissecting Simon Sinek beautifully written masterpiece The Infinite Game, but there just happened to be so much good shit in here that I just about have given it the Stillness Is The Key treatment…
Toward the end of the book, Sinek talks about the value of having a “Rival” and what that can do to elevate all of us.
He specifically refers to a competitor in his industry and talked about how he would constantly check the charts to see how his book compared to his arch rival’s book. When he would beat the dude in the rankings, he would get a quick shot of dopamine with the escalation he would feel…
When he lost, he would feel dejected and upset about something that oftentimes was completely outside of his control and an inaccurate evaluation of the only thing that really matters… The quality of the product.
This ended up being an obsessive and vicious “finite game” that consumed way too much time and energy in Sinek’s life…
Finally, he was at a large seminar, and for the first time, Simon was forced to be on stage with his nemesis… When Sinek was on stage, he faced and divulged his fears head on when he turned to Adam Grant and said, “You terrify me.”
Ironically, with a stunned look on his face, Grant responded: “The feeling is mutual.”
Since then, the two have set egos aside and developed a mutually beneficial relationship. Both finally realized that although their audience may be some of the same, that audience has a thirst for knowledge and these dudes are both holding bottomless jugs, so why not share the love.
Look, there is no Ali without Frazier, Bird without Magic, Phil without Tiger, McEnroe without Connors or Evert without Navratilova… We all need rivals to continue to inspire and motivate us to take our game to the NEXT LEVEL.
Simon Sinek and Adam Grant have gone on to help one another cross promote their books and messages. Both seem to have stopped playing the over emotional “finite game” and completely embraced the “infinite game” predicated on enhancing world wide successful business strategies that have the ability to help generations of entrepreneurs to come…
Well, at least ‘til the next book rankings come out. 🤣
-EB