It’s more than a marathon – it’s an infinite game!

Sharing Experience: Graham Lawes, Tinderbox

As Simon Sinek says in his book ‘The Infinite Game’: “In business, the objective is to continue playing, adapting and thriving over the long term.”

The fact that it is continuous and never-ending can become a significant drain on a business owner, but it can also be used as a source of energy.

Sustain and grow

How can a business owner and their team maintain their drive and energy over the long term?

• Establish a high-value purpose. Ask yourself: what is the fundamental reason your business exists, beyond simply making a profit? This ‘purpose’ will also be infinite and one that you can keep working on. To fulfil it, you will need to continue to adapt and evolve to thrive over the long term.
• Your role must evolve. As your business thrives, the team will grow too. As the business grows you need to engage and harness the know-how and creative capacity of your biggest and best computer – the brains of your team.

Your role will evolve from being the ‘chief doer’ to being the team leader and conductor of the orchestra. Surrounding yourself with a highly dependable and competent team will not only share the workload, but also increase the brainpower of the business and share the thinking load. For many, the evolution of the business and personal growth is what retains their mojo.

It requires continuous learning and development, but personal growth is motivating.

• Motivation and energy are interconnected. Business owners are initially highly motivated to start their own business and, as with any new challenge, approach it with gusto.

It may be a cliché, but for an owner to move from ‘working in the business to working on the business’, and working to evolve and adapt to the ever changing business environment, brings new challenges that can renew the motivation and energy.

Accepting the infinite nature of business, and that it will never be won, will enable satisfaction to be found in the fact that the business has evolved and thrived.

Ultimately, the game will be over for the business owner, but taking the business to a successful exit, ideally a transition to new owners who will take the legacy into the future (even if it is part of the tapestry of a larger business), means that the game continues to infinity and beyond!

At the end of the day, it is maintaining a good level of motivation that will keep the energy levels high and stop the tank from running on empty.