Renia (pronounced R-EE-n-a) Carsillo hates business silos and marketing hacks. So, she spends her days working with mid-size and small companies to integrate their business strategy with their impact strategy, design sustainable marketing frameworks, and find a growth cadence that works for their team and their lives. Renia believes founders are uniquely positioned to create a kinder, more equitable world. She is passionate about bringing C-level strategic support to the small and mid-size companies shaping their communities every day. Renia says, "Sustainable marketing is built on a solid business strategy. A solid business strategy is built on values-driven habits. Values-driven habits are built on healed/healing leaders. We can’t do these things separately. They’re all interconnected. ”
Why the Infinite Game of Business Goes Beyond “Winning” [Two on Tuesdays]
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Happy Tuesday, Reader! This time of year in the United States, it’s hard to avoid talk about the Super Bowl. Even days after the game, you’ll find people ready to rehash calls and plays and offer their opinions on who won and why. But while winning is great for sports, it’s really bad for societies, relationships, and yes, even running a business. In his 2019 book, The Infinite Game, Simon Sinek explains how business and politics are games with different players, rules, and goals than what we typically think of as games, like football or chess. These finite games have rules that provide strict boundaries and identify a definitive winner. Business and politics, on the other hand, are examples of infinite games. Players can enter and leave at any time, rules are transient, and the ultimate goal is simply to continue playing. In the infinite game of business, notice that we do not call the key players “winners,” but “leaders.” What’s the difference?
While it’s possible to be a winner and a leader at the same time (this is what most of us hope for), it’s a cycle. No one who leads well can win all the time. And, it’s possible to be a winner without being a leader. We see that all the time. The problem is that to keep up the winning streak, we have to keep seeking out/creating losers, creating a hamster wheel of zero-sum games. The moment there’s no loser, the winner ceases to have meaning either. When it comes to the game of business, we have a choice: become Winners or Leaders. Leadership is generative, with the capability of creating something new. Winning is playing well with what’s already there until it’s all used up. For example, Andy Reid is a leader who also happens to win a lot. Wherever he goes, he creates more leaders, great coaches, and legendary players. (Congratulations are in order to my Philadelphia Eagles for their Super Bowl win against Andy Reid. We may have cost him his 3-peat, but he's still my favorite NFL coach of all time). Meanwhile, a certain someone leading our government today is a winner who cannot lead. Therefore, we all must take our turns at losing for him to stay on top, and he tears people down wherever he goes. What choice will you make in your business? Be generative or destructive? Both can change the world, but only one will set us free. Until next time, |
Renia Carsillo
Renia (pronounced R-EE-n-a) Carsillo hates business silos and marketing hacks. So, she spends her days working with mid-size and small companies to integrate their business strategy with their impact strategy, design sustainable marketing frameworks, and find a growth cadence that works for their team and their lives. Renia believes founders are uniquely positioned to create a kinder, more equitable world. She is passionate about bringing C-level strategic support to the small and mid-size companies shaping their communities every day. Renia says, "Sustainable marketing is built on a solid business strategy. A solid business strategy is built on values-driven habits. Values-driven habits are built on healed/healing leaders. We can’t do these things separately. They’re all interconnected. ”
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