In 2020, the epidemic opened an unfriendly era, while accelerating everything: tearing and cooperative hybridization, inner volume and Mars exploration, monopoly and co-enrichment, control and flow emerging, conservative and innovative creation, artificial and algorithmic intelligence...
In 2021, everything becomes more unpredictable, stranger, more confusing, and of course full of challenges, imaginations, hopes and yearnings.
Ma Yun's capital empire was limited, Liu Chuanzhi's association was accused, Wei Ya's tax evasion was investigated, everything can be explained, because they are still "limited game" thinking: making money, winning, competition, I am the first...
At the same time, Huawei China has a promising, ByteDance global beating, Xiaomi bravely moving forward, and meituan continue to break boundaries, which is also clear, because they are the thinking of "unlimited games": embracing uncertainty, leading the future, breaking boundaries, expecting surprises, attracting partners...
Now, 2022, here we go!
When "uncertainty" becomes the background of the times, dancing with risks and opportunities; when the underlying structure of culture, commerce, class, consumption, and crowds is constantly resetting, reconstructing, rebuilding and reshaping; when it is foreseeable that the flying car of "Star Wars", the metaverse world of "Ready Player One", the external incarnation of "Avatar", when the next 10 years follow, what kind of thinking do you face and meet these meta-changes?
Image source "Wu Xiaobo Meets 2021 New Year's Eve Speech"
In other words, what is the one"singular thinking in the next hundred years of business?" "What is the perception that far exceeds others"? What old thinking should we give up, what old framework should we break, what bottleneck should we break through our own upwards?
The greatest luck of a person is to meet someone one day to break your original thinking and take you to a higher realm.
——Huawei Ren Zhengfei.
One
"Infinite Games" – the guiding ideology of the next hundred years of business
There is such a book, "The Game of Finite and Infinite", by James Cass (Professor of Religious History at New York University) who presents a cross-existent philosophical universal wisdom to the public from the perspective of "player" and "game".
This book changed the way I thought about life, the universe, and everything else. The difference between the two games relieved me of the hesitation about what to do next. It's simple: always choose unlimited games.
—"Out of Control" by Kevin Kelly
There is only one point of view in the whole book - "We need a transformation of the concept of play: choose "infinite game"" - which carefully dissects the world, time, society, culture, power, language, sex, disease, death, war, nature, machines, religion, mythology and other important themes in reality with the thinking of "finite and infinite games".
There was a book that had a great influence on me– The Game of Finite and Infinite. Finite games are played within boundaries, but infinite games are playing with boundaries, that is, playing with "rules", exploring and changing the boundaries themselves. There is actually only one infinite game, and that is your life, and death is an insurmountable boundary. In contrast, other boundaries are not so important.
——Meituan Wang Xing
Products will be replaced by scenes, and industries will be covered by ecology. In the era of pricelessness, boundlessness and disorder, let us integrate into the infinite game with the purpose of "maximizing the value of people". --Haier Zhang Ruimin
In this flow and infiltration of philosophy, you will understand some of the long-standing and great "infinite games": philosophy, religion, science, biological evolution, culture and art.
"Finite games are aimed at winning, while infinite games are aimed at continuing games."
Limited games play within boundaries, and unlimited games play borders.
The finite game has a definite beginning and end, has a specific winner, and the rules exist to ensure that the game will end; the infinite game has neither a definite beginning and an end nor a winner, and its purpose is to bring more people into the game itself, thus continuing the game.
- "The Game of Finite and Infinite"
In fact, you'll find that companies and brands fit the definition of "infinite game" – a game with neither an end nor a winner – and that rightfully applies the "infinite game" mindset – and our primary goal is to keep playing, that is, to keep the game going.
When you bring the book's reflections into various business phenomena, you can't help but exclaim, "This is exactly what I knew before, but I can't say it in words."
The "finite game" mentality has become the standard model of modern business, and the goal of many companies is to "win", "become first", the vision is "industry leader", and the promotion of "I am the best"; unfortunately, these are the thinking of limited games, and these goals will not be achieved in the business game without an end.
For example, in the past 100 years, the average life expectancy of the company has decreased from 61 years to 18 years; Nokia, which once occupied 41% of the mobile phone market, collapsed overnight; Baidu PC search market share was as high as 80%, the absolute industry first, but it was only 10 years old, but it was far behind by Meituan and Byte, which were only established for 10 years.
"Infinite Games" explains the endless life of companies that pursue "noble causes", enjoy the vitality of chess opponents, and release the spirit of user and team ownership, initiative and creativity with unlimited thinking; those that only look at phased financial data, wealth goals, and those brands that beat their opponents and enjoy the losses of their opponents are quickly drowned in history.
For example, although Jack Welch's short "Win" was short, GE was repeatedly in bankruptcy; Jobs's "Think Different" was a new adventure every time it "changed the world", but it made Apple stand to this day.
For example, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer "in the past 13 years, Microsoft has made more money than anyone on the earth", but the market value continues to be depressed; After Being "Refreshed" by Nadella, Microsoft has returned to the peak because it "empowers everyone and every organization in the world" and has created a new future.
In the world of "infinite games", we can also find peter Drucker's "the only purpose of any business action is to create customers"; Christensen's "focus on user progress", Li Shanyou's "innovation is to go from the known to the unknown, to find a larger living space"... They have long been in it.
The "infinite game" points to the form of thinking, which is essentially the core of business and the new rules of the game for the next 100 years.
Two
From Ren Zhengfei to Wang Xingzhang Yiming,
From Bezos to Musk, they are playing "infinite games"
30 years ago, many previous generations of Chinese entrepreneurs have drawn strength from traditional Chinese culture such as the I Ching, Confucianism, and Sun Tzu's Art of War to guide practice and achieve great achievements, and even at present, many marketing experts continue to use this as a core.
Since I was a child, I have loved "Sun Tzu's Art of War", and the wisdom of the soldiers' struggle can be turned to the mall, and this is where my victory lies.
--Jack Ma
If you look forward for 20 years, Chinese marketing experts have successively introduced the classic theories of European and American industrial and commercial civilization, such as "Scientific Management", "Marketing Management", "Boston Matrix", "Blue Ocean Strategy", "Competitive Strategy", "Win", "Positioning", "Pursuit of Excellence", etc., and enshrined them as the Bible, learn strategy and tactics, and help China create a batch of well-known brands.
But with the advent of mobile life and smart business, these smart and theoretical approaches are increasingly inadequate to explain so many of the current business realities, let alone gain a foothold in the wave of "uncertainty."
Obviously, at the beginning of the numbers, some of the greater entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs have already upgraded their cognition and evolved their thinking, and the shadow of the "infinite game" in these cognitive minds is everywhere:
1. Ren Zhengfei and his "entropy reduction"
As early as 2011, Ren Zhengfei said in "A River of Spring Water Flowing East" that "the law of history is death, and our responsibility is to prolong life"; in the 2012 symposium, "entropy" was mentioned internally for the first time; in 2015, he clearly pointed out that "if the thermodynamics is not open, it will die... It is necessary to strengthen the exchange of energy and enhance the potential energy"; in 2018, the 051 email "Entropy Reduction – The Source of Our Vitality" was issued.
Therefore, Huawei continues to invest in the company's long-term development capabilities (potential energy) by "achieving entropy reduction away from the dissipative structure of balance and development", taking the strivers as the basis and the global manpower layout..., and constantly pursuing higher development goals.
The infinite game has neither a definite beginning nor an end, nor a winner, its purpose is to bring more people into the game itself, thus continuing the game.
Participants in the Finite Game fight for (their own) immortality, while Infinite Game participants play in the form of mortals. - He did not die at the end of the game, but during the game. His death is a way to continue the game. They don't join the game for their own lives, they live for their own game. - "The Game of Finite and Infinite"
2. Zhang Yiming and his "Expected Challenge"
Zhang Yiming believes that every time he starts a business is a desire: "I am different from others, choosing the starting point of a project, mainly to see whether the project has the opportunity to do challenging things, and whether the business is challenging, and whether it can provide value and convenience to many people, rather than measuring it by making money." ”
Coupled with his deductive thinking: "do what is theoretically true, what has not happened in reality", "optimistic about uncertainty", so that ByteDance's empire is boundless, becoming a global Chinese brand comparable to Huawei.
"Participants in the Infinite Game start working, not to fill a period of time with work, but to fill a period of work with time. Work is not a way for participants in an infinite game to pass the time, but a way to generate possibilities. Work is not about reaching an expected present and then grabbing it against an unpredictable future, but toward a future that has a future in itself. ”
3. Wang Xing and his "Infinite Game"
Wang Xing is the staunchest practitioner of "Infinite Games", and even the Chinese version of "Finite and Infinite Games" was recommended by him.
Wang Xing's influence on "Infinite Games" can be traced back to his playing of civilization: "This game has no beginning and no end, infinite expansion, players can create their own world, there are no boundaries." ”
Wang Xing believes that "competition" is "the same direction is competition, and the opposite direction is competition", he does not regard competitors as opponents completely, but thinks that people who do the same thing together are people with the same direction.
His understanding of "boundaries": "Too many people focus on boundaries and not on the core. There are no simple boundaries for all things, so I don't think it's time to set limits on myself. As long as the core is clear – who do we really serve? What services are provided to them? We will continue to try all kinds of businesses. ”
"Where is the real endgame? Endgame was originally a term for playing chess, but the reality is that the board is still expanding"; "Our mission is to make everyone eat better and live better." Under this mission, we believe that whatever ultimately happens, we will choose the right angle to enter. ”
"Participants in the infinite game are constantly learning, finding rules, changing boundaries."
"To prevent someone from winning the game, and to get as many people involved in the game as possible, infinite games change the rules."
"Unlimited game participants avoid any outcomes and remain open to the future."
4. Bezos and his "long-termism"
In his 2009 Letter to Shareholders, Jeff Bezos said, "Of our 452 goals, the words 'net income,' 'gross profit,' and 'operating profit' were not once present. ”
"Numerical boundaries come in many forms, but are always applied to effective games. ... Fixed-value boundaries become the boundaries of the winners..., and we can't imagine that if the participants were all convinced that the game was over, they would return to the game and actually participate in the game. ”
He rejects competitor-centricism, saying that "it doesn't matter what your competitors are doing, they don't give you money"; he believes that "competitors' love of profit margins is an opportunity for Amazon." Because opponents will be subject to this, competing with these companies is like cutting butter with a hot knife."
"I'm often asked the question, 'What kind of changes will happen over the next decade?'" But I'm rarely asked, "What's the same for the next decade?" This classic Q&A appeared in Luo Zhenyu's New Year's Eve speech in 2022.
Bezos invented two words: Dayone (the state of starting a business) and (Daytwo: the state of success), and he may not have read The Finite and Infinite Game, but this is the clearest understanding.
As a reminder to himself, Bezos even named the office building Day one, "Every day I take the first step into this building and see that this is my first day at Bezos, this is amazon's first day." "Your end point doesn't matter at all, your starting point is important, and the company must always be on Day1." ”
"For participants in the infinite game, time does not pass, and every moment of time is a beginning."
Ren Zhengfei and his "strivers" taste.
5. Musk and his "adventure."
Zip2, X.com, PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, SolarCity, Hyperloop achievements are eye-catching.
Musk's legend is known for his proud "first principles" thinking, "I think existence reduces things to their fundamental essence... You have to be able to "boil" those questions to find the most basic things out of them. ”
For such a good or even great entrepreneur, "taking risks" is commonplace, or there is no such thing as "risks" for him. In 2014, Musk said, "It's time to take risks, and as you get older, your responsibilities increase." Once you have a family, you're not just risking yourself, you're risking your family. ”
"I'm a libertarian. ...... My theory is that design, technology, execution, putting them together, packing them up, blending them together in a way that people rarely do, the point is that you are so confident in the combination that you go crazy and even take wild risks. ”
He has the same word as Zhang Yiming's "challenge,—— "adventure", or "infinite game" exclusive word - "surprise"
"Infinite players crave wonder."
"Finite games win by surprising opponents, and participants are trained to know not only to predict every future possibility, but also to control the future and prevent it from changing the past, and they are terrified of the outcome of the inconsistency. Unlimited game participants continue the game in a state of anticipation of surprise. If there are no more surprises, then the game stops. ”
Three
Why Ren Zhengfei, Wang Xing, Zhang Yiming, Bezos, and Musk are all playing the "infinite game"
Because they all know that traditional culture is the peak of the wisdom of the predecessors, but it is only the starting point of the present people; "Sun Tzu's Art of War" is the art of war of agricultural civilization, the tactics of old commerce, but it is by no means a commercial treasure book of new commerce, and even marketing methodology cannot be talked about.
They also know that the classic business theories of Europe and the United States may help enterprises develop rapidly in the era of industry and commerce, and help brands emerge in the Internet era, but they can never guide from the known to the unknown, and the technicalism of the digital age is integrated with the rampant consumerism, let alone the "conceptual highland" of marketing theory.
They are more aware that if "I" think like everyone else, then how can "I" surpass them? - "Non-consensus, but correct cognition (Bezos)", "Think Different", "The biggest danger of byte is whether we have any cognition that is far superior to others in any field (Zhang Yiming)".
"At the fork in the road stands a sign, one direction is called Victory, and the other direction is satisfaction.
If you choose a direction, which one do you want to choose?
If we choose to win, the goal is to win, and when we rush to the finish line, we will experience excitement, cheering and glory, and then everything will end, and the song will end up."
If we choose to be satisfied, the journey is long, we must carefully take every step, never stop, go forward, everyone gathers, all the way together, when our lives end, the companions on the road of satisfaction, without us, will continue to move forward, and will inspire more people to walk with them
- "Infinite Game"
In the new business era, only the "infinite game" thinking can guide us, lead us, and grow with uncertainty.
Please reset your cognition – "There is and only one infinite game in the world".
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To be continued: The next chapter will "Explore the Top 10 Business Mindsets for Infinite Games"
Reference Books & Articles:
Limited and Infinite Games
Infinite Games
Entropy Reduction – The Source of Our Vitality
"Wang Xing's Infinite Game: Many People Mistakenly Think That Killing Opponents Will End in Victory"
"Pay $11 Billion a Year in Taxes!" The "brain circuit" of Musk, the world's largest taxpayer
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