Simon Sinek Best Ever Motivational Speech COMPILATION – MOST INSPIRATIONAL ADVICE VIDEO EVER

Leadership and Empathy

You want to be a great leader, start with empathy. You want to be a great leader, change your perspective and play the game you’re actually playing. You don’t have to be happy every day, but you can be fulfilled every day.

Vulnerability and Environment

What vulnerability means is you create an environment in which someone feels safe enough to raise their hand and say, “I don’t know what I’m doing.” So I think the whole concept of searching for happiness or searching for the job that you love or searching for love is completely misguided. It’s finding an area where you could work hard at it, and then you have to work hard to keep it.

Changing Leadership Models

These are no longer peaceful times, and those models cannot work today. It’s not about being in charge; it’s about taking care of those in your charge. We don’t always have to be right, we don’t always have to be in charge, we don’t have to be the one who succeeds.

Future Leaders

We keep saying to them, “You’re the future leaders.” We’re the leaders now; we’re in control. What are we doing? You will be told your whole life that you need to learn to listen. I would say that you need to learn to be the last to speak.

Understanding Your People

How do I help my people be at their natural best? You must understand from where they are speaking, why they have the opinion they have, not just what they are saying. Now, who are you gonna ask for help, and when are you gonna accept help when it’s offered?

Culture and Authenticity

So we’ve literally created cultures in which every single day everybody comes to work and lies, hides, and fakes. There’s no winning the game of business; the infinite player isn’t playing to be number one every day with every product. They’re playing to outlast the competition. How do we advance our cause more efficiently, more productively than we did yesterday?

The Role of Empathy in Leadership

The world is too dangerous, and the world is too difficult for you to think that you can do these things alone. Empathy is being concerned about the human being, not just their output.

Being an Elite Warrior

You want to be an elite warrior? It’s not about how tough you are, it’s not about how smart you are, it’s not about how fast you are. If you want to be an elite warrior, you better get really, really good at helping the person to the left of you and helping the person to the right of you.

Dealing with an Addicted Generation

So you’re dealing with an addicted generation. This is a big time bomb ticking.

The Impact of Social Media and Addiction

These kids who commit suicide, you go look at their Instagrams, you would have no clue that they were depressed. If you wake up and you check your phone before you say good morning to your girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse, you have an addiction. And like all addiction, in time, it’ll destroy relationships, it’ll cost time and it’ll cost money, and will make your life worse. You’re dealing with an addicted generation; this is a big time bomb ticking. It will get really worse, right? Okay, so combine that with the fact you have an addicted generation that doesn’t have the skill set to ask for help.

Deceptive Appearances on Social Media

When, with the fact that they’re so good at Facebook and Instagram, they’re good at putting filters on everything, so they’re good at showing you how smart and strong they are. These kids who commit suicide, you go look at their Instagrams, you would have no clue that they were depressed because they’re happy and they’re star athletes, right? You have no clue because they’re really good. So when we say silly things like, “My door is always open,” you’re assuming they have the courage to come in.

Parenting and Self-Image

Combined with the fact that they’re subject, largely not all, but too many, to a failed parenting strategy because their parents told them they were special, they could have anything they wanted, they can be anything they want. They got medals for coming in last; the kids got into honors classes not because they deserved it but because the parents complained. And some of them got good grades not because they earned them but because the teachers didn’t want to deal with the parents. And then the kids graduate college and they get a job and in an instant, they find out they’re not special. They don’t get anything for coming in last, their parents can’t get them a promotion, and you can’t have whatever you want just because you want it. And in an instant, their entire self-image is shattered.

Lower Self-Confidence and Social Media Obsession

So you have an entire generation growing up with lower self-confidence than previous generations. You have lower self-confidence than previous generations combined with an inability to ask for help with things that you’re struggling with, and you turn to social media or device. You keep checking, you keep checking, you count your likes, you count your likes, your account, you follow, your account, your followers. If somebody unfriends you, oh my god, it’s trauma. We’re growing up in a Facebook Instagram world. In other words, we’re good at putting filters on things, we’re good at showing people that life is amazing even though I’m depressed.

Addiction to Social Media

And so everybody sounds tough, and everybody sounds like they got it all figured out, and the reality is there’s very little toughness and most people don’t have it figured out. So you have an entire generation growing up with lower self-esteem than previous generations. Now let’s add in technology. We know that engagement with social media and our cell phones releases a chemical called dopamine. That’s why when you get a text, feels good. Dopamine is the exact same chemical that makes us feel good when we smoke, when we drink, and when we gamble. In other words, it’s highly, highly addictive. You have an entire generation that has access to an addictive numbing chemical called dopamine through social media and cell phones. They don’t have the coping mechanisms to deal with stress. So when significant stress starts to show up in their lives, they’re not turning to a person, they’re turning to a device, they’re turning to social media, they’re turning to these things which offer temporary relief. We know the science is clear, we know that people who

Impact of Social Media and Technology Addiction

People who spend more time on Facebook suffer higher rates of depression than people who spend less time on Facebook. If you’re sitting at dinner with your friends and you’re texting somebody who’s not there, that’s a problem. That’s an addiction. If you’re sitting in a meeting with people you’re supposed to be listening to and speaking, and you put your phone on the table face up or face down, I don’t care, that sends a subconscious message to the room that you’re just not that important to me right now. That’s what happens. And the fact that you cannot put it away is because you are addicted. If you wake up and you check your phone before you say good morning to your girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse, you have an addiction. And like all addiction, in time, it’ll destroy relationships, it’ll cost time and it’ll cost money, and it’ll make your life worse.

Instant Gratification and Impatience

Combined with the fact there’s an institutionalized impatience, they’ve grown up in a world of instant gratification. You want to buy something, you go on Amazon, it shows up the next day. You want to get in touch with someone, you don’t leave a message on their machine and wait for hours for them to get the message, you just text them and they get back to you immediately. You want to watch a movie, you just log on and watch it, you don’t have to check movie times. Everything happens. You want to get a date, swipe right, you don’t even have to muster up the courage to go like, “Hey, you know.” You don’t have to. There you go, got a date. Everything you want, you can have instantaneously, everything you want, instant gratification except job satisfaction and strength of relationships. There ain’t no app for that. They are slow, meandering, uncomfortable, messy processes.

The Journey of Life and Career

And so the problem is they’re accused of being entitled. I don’t think they’re entitled at all, not at all. I think they’re impatient. I keep meeting these fantastic, smart, driven, ambitious, idealistic, fantastic kids who graduated school, they got a job, they want to make an impact in the world, and I go up to them and say, “How’s it going?” And they say, “I think I’m going to quit.” I’m like, “Why?” They’re like, “I’m not making an impact.” I’m like, “You’ve been here eight months.” And it’s as if they see the summit of a mountain. As if they’re standing at the foot of a mountain, they can see the summit, they can see the thing they want, “I want to make an impact.” What they don’t see is the mountain, this large, immovable object. You can go up fast, you can go up slow, I don’t care, but there’s still a mountain. What they don’t understand is that life, that relationships, and career fulfillment are a journey. There’s no app for that. You gotta go through the slow, plotting, annoying, meandering process called career and life. But if they don’t get it in eight months, they go look for it somewhere else. They don’t get it, they go look for something. It’s impatience. And so what this young generation needs to learn is patience, that some things that really, really matter, like love or job fulfillment, joy, love of life, self-confidence, a skill set, any of these things, all of these things take time. Sometimes you can expedite pieces of it, but the overall journey is arduous and long and difficult. And if you don’t ask for help and learn that skill set, you will fall off the mountain. We’re taking this amazing group of young, fantastic kids who are just dealt a bad hand, it’s no fault of their own, and we put them in corporate.

Neglectful Corporate Environments

Environments that care more about the numbers than they do about the kids. They care more about the short-term gains than the long-term life of this young human being. We care more about the year than the lifetime, right? And so we are putting them in corporate environments that aren’t helping them build their confidence, that aren’t helping them learn the skills of cooperation, that aren’t helping them overcome the challenges of a digital world and finding more balance. That isn’t helping them overcome the need to have instant gratification and teach them the joys and impact and the fulfillment you get from working hard over on something for a long time that cannot be done in a month or even in a year.

Blame on Themselves

And so we’re thrusting them into corporate environments, and the worst part about it is they think it’s them, they blame themselves. They think it’s them who can’t deal, and so it makes it all worse. It’s not. I’m here to tell them it’s not them, it’s the corporations, it’s the corporate environments, it’s the total lack of good leadership in our world today that is making them feel the way they do. They’re just numbers on a spreadsheet.

Lack of Support in the Workforce

And so they enter work cultures that don’t help them, and the problem is they’re entering the workforce at a deficit. I hear from kids, they tell me that they struggle to form deep meaningful relationships, and the companies don’t care. I wish that society and their parents did a better job; they didn’t. So we’re getting them in our companies, and we now have to pick up the slack. We have to work extra hard to figure out the ways that we build their confidence, we have to work extra hard to find ways to teach them the social skills that they’re missing out on. And so it’s destructive to them as individuals, but ultimately it’ll hurt the companies because more and more millennials are entering the workforce. I believe that now the responsibility on companies is even greater than it’s ever been before to take care of its people.

Intervention Needed

Because if the environments in which we’re asking our youngest workers to work in isn’t built to help them, I can’t even imagine what the suicide and homicide and just the rates of depression, you know, an accidental death due to overdose are going to look like in the future. It’s going to reach epidemic proportions. It’s already the statistics are already alarming, and yet nobody’s sounding any alarm bells. Parents have to intervene. We have to stop giving our kids free access to social media and phones at young ages. They are not ready for it; their minds cannot cope with the dopamine balance is fine.

Empathy in the Workplace

You can give a kid a phone, but they can’t use it in their bedroom, they can’t have it at the dinner table, they can’t take it to school, they can only have it up to a certain hour, and you take it away. They’re children; you can take the phone away. We’ve got to intervene as parents, but as companies, we now have to deal with the influx of kids that are coming into our companies with addiction. “Are you okay? I’m worried about you, what’s going on?” We all have performance issues. Maybe someone’s kid is sick, maybe they’re having problems in their marriage, maybe one of their parents is dying. We don’t know what’s going on in their lives, and of course it will affect performance at work. Empathy is being concerned about the human being, not just their output.

Outdated Business Theories

We have, for some reason, our work world has changed over the past 20 and 30 years. We are suffering the side effects of business theories left over from the 80s and 90s, and they are bad for people and they are bad for business. Let me give you an example.

Shareholder Supremacy and Business Models

The concept of shareholder supremacy was a theory proposed in the late 1970s, popularized in the 80s and 90s, and is now standard form today. You talk to any public company and you ask them their priority, and they say maximize shareholder value. Really, that’s like a coach prioritizing the needs of the fans over the needs of the players. How are you going to build a winning team with that model? But that’s normal today. We don’t even perceive it as broken or damaged or wrong or outdated. Remember, the 80s and 90s were boom years with relative peace and a kinder, gentler Cold War. Nobody was practicing hiding under their desks in school anymore. We are no longer in those times. These are no longer boom years; these are no longer peaceful times, and those models cannot work today.

Damaging Business Practices

Mass layoffs, using someone’s livelihood to balance the books, it’s so normal in America today that we don’t even understand how broken and how damaging it is, not only to human beings but to business. You know, companies talk about how they want to build trust and cooperation, and they announce a round of layoffs. Do you know the quickest way to destroy trust and destroy cooperation in a business? Literally in one day, lay people off, and everyone gets scared. Can you imagine sending someone home to say, “Honey, I can no longer provide for our family because the company missed its arbitrary projections this year?” And forget about the people who lost their job, think about the people who kept their jobs because every single decision a company makes is a piece of communication, and the company has just communicated to everybody else, “This is not a meritocracy. We don’t care how hard you work or how long you’ve worked here. If we miss our numbers and you happen to fall on the wrong side of the spreadsheet, I’m sorry, we cannot guarantee employment.”

Characteristics of Elite Warriors

In other words, we come to work every day afraid. How would any of us ever stand up and admit, “I made a mistake”? Take care of each other. The United States Navy SEALs are perhaps the most elite warriors in the world, and one of the SEALs was asked who makes it through the selection process, who is able to become a SEAL. And his answer was, “I can’t tell you the kind of person that becomes a SEAL. I can’t tell you the kind of person that makes it through BUD/S, but I can tell you the kind of people who don’t become SEALs.” He said, “The guys that show up with huge bulging muscles covered in tattoos who want to prove to the world how tough they are, none of them make it through. The preening leaders who like to delegate all their responsibility and never do anything themselves, none of them make it through. The star college athletes who’ve never really been tested to the core of their being, none of them make it through.”

Importance of Helping Others

He said, “Some of the guys that make it through are skinny and scrawny. Some of the guys that make it through, you will see them shivering out of fear.” He said, “However, all the guys that make it through, when they find themselves physically spent, emotionally spent, when they have nothing left to give physically or emotionally, somehow, some way, they are able to find the energy to dig down deep inside themselves to find the energy to help the guy next to them. They become SEALs.” He said, “You want to be an elite warrior? It’s not about how tough you are, it’s not about how smart you are, it’s not about how fast you are. If you want to be an elite warrior, you better get really, really good at helping the person to the left of you and helping the person to the right of you, because that’s how people advance in the world. The world is too dangerous, and the world is too difficult for you to think that you can do these things alone.”

Importance of Asking for Help and Practicing Empathy

If you find your spark, I commend you. Now, who are you gonna ask for help and when are you gonna accept help when it’s offered? Learn that skill, learn by practicing helping each other. It’ll be the single most valuable thing you ever learn in your entire life, to accept help when it’s offered and to ask for it when you know that you can’t do it. The amazing thing is when you learn to ask for help, you’ll discover that there are people all around you who’ve always wanted to help you; they just didn’t think you needed it because you kept pretending that you had everything under control. And the minute you say, “I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m stuck, I’m scared, I don’t think I can do this,” you will find that lots of people who love you will rush in and take care of you. But that’ll only happen if you learn to take care of them first.

Differentiating Happiness and Fulfillment

I don’t like the term happiness. I like the term fulfillment, I like the term joy. Happiness, to me, is something that is fleeting, and you can have happiness because you win a piece of business, or you hit your numbers, or you go see a movie, and happiness is wonderful and it’s great, and then it goes away. You know, it doesn’t last. Where deep fulfillment, I think, is a much higher standard. It’s, let me equate it to like, you don’t like your kids every day, but you love your kids every day. You don’t have to be happy every day, but you can be fulfilled every day. You don’t have to like your job every day, but you can love your job every day. And I think that people confuse the two, and people are seeking happiness in their work, and they’re doing it through all the ways you would think they would do it in short-term things.

Practice of Empathy in Leadership

We’re constantly being told you have to be vulnerable; leaders are vulnerable. What does that even mean? It doesn’t mean you walk around crying, “I’m vulnerable,” right? No, what vulnerability means is you create an environment in which someone feels safe enough to raise their hand and say, “I don’t know what I’m doing. You’ve given me a job and I haven’t been trained to do it. I need help. I made a mistake. I screwed something up. I’m scared. I’m worried.” All of these things no one would ever admit inside a company because it puts a target on your head in case there’s another round. And so we keep it to ourselves. And how can a company ever do well if nobody’s ever willing to admit they made a mistake, that’s scared, or they don’t know what they’re doing? And so we’ve literally created cultures in which every single day, everybody comes to work and lies, hides, and fakes.

Importance of Being the Last to Speak

Nelson Mandela is a particularly special case study in the leadership world because he is universally regarded as a great leader. You can take other personalities and depending on the nation you go to, we have different opinions about other personalities. But Nelson Mandela, across the world, is universally regarded as a great leader. He was actually the son of a tribal chief, and he was asked one day, “How did you learn to be a great leader?” And he responded that he would go with his father to tribal meetings, and he remembers two things when his father would meet with other elders: one, they would always sit in a circle, and two, his father was always the last to speak. You will be told your whole life that you need to learn to listen. I would say that you need to learn to be the last to speak. I see it in board rooms every day of the week. Even people who consider themselves good leaders, who may actually be decent leaders, will walk into a room and say, “Here’s the problem, here’s what I think, but I’m interested in your opinion, let’s go around the room.” It’s too late. The skill to hold your opinions to yourself until everyone has spoken does two things: one, it gives everybody else the feeling that they have been heard, it gives everyone else the ability to feel that they have contributed, and two, you get the benefit of hearing what everybody else has to think before you render your opinion. The skill is really to keep your opinions to yourself. If you agree with somebody, don’t nod yes. If you disagree with somebody, don’t nod no. Simply sit there, take it all in, and the only thing you’re allowed to do is ask questions so that you can understand what they mean and why they have the opinion that they have. You must understand from where they are speaking, why they have the opinion they have, not just what they are saying. And at the end, you will get your turn. It sounds easy. It’s not. Practice being the last to speak.

Love and Work

Either like you find somebody who, who, who cares about you that you care about, you fall in love, I’m not sure exactly what day it happened and then you work tirelessly every day to stay in love because if you stop working the love goes away, and it’s the same at work. You don’t find a job you love, you find a place where you share the values, you fit, they care about you as a human being, you fall in love with your job, and you work tirelessly, tirelessly every day to take care of the people around you, and you remain fulfilled. So I think the whole concept of searching for happiness or searching for the job that you love or searching for love is completely misguided. It’s finding an area where you could work hard at it, and then you have to work hard to keep it, um, and the worst part is so do they, and if one of you quits then the thing goes, goes haywire, and that goes for employees and for management which is they have to work hard but at this, and so do we, um.

So I think our language is not helping us, right? We don’t always have to be right, we don’t always have to be in charge, we don’t have to be the one who succeeds. It’s not about winning or losing, and that’s where I go to the second point after empathy comes perspective, where it’s not about winning or losing in game theory. There are two kinds of games, there are finite games and there are infinite games, and this is how you’re going to change your perspective, right?

Finite and Infinite Games

A finite game is defined as known players, fixed rules, and an agreed-upon objective. Baseball, for example, we know the rules, we all agree to the rules, and whoever has more runs at the end of nine innings is the winner and the game is over. No one ever says we can just play two more innings, I know we can come back, it doesn’t work that way, the game is over, right? That’s a finite game. Then you have an infinite game. Infinite games are defined as known and unknown players, the rules are changeable, and the objective is to keep the game in play, to perpetuate the game. When you pit a finite player versus a finite player, the system is stable, baseball is stable, right? When you pit an infinite player versus an infinite player, the system is also stable, like the Cold War, for example, because there cannot be a winner and a loser, there are no winners and losers in an infinite game, right? It doesn’t exist, and because there are no winners or losers, what ends up happening in the infinite contest is players drop out when they run out of the will or the resources to play, but there’s no winners or losers. Problems arise when you pit a finite player versus an infinite player because then a finite player is playing to win and an infinite player is to playing to keep the game going, right? This is what happened to us in Vietnam, we were playing to win and the Vietnamese were fighting for their lives, we were the ones who got stuck in a quagmire. This is the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, they were trying to beat the Mujahideen and the Mujahideen would fight for as long as is necessary, quagmire.

Now let’s look at business. The game of business has pre-existed or has existed long before every single company that exists on this planet today and it will outlast every single company that exists on this planet today. There’s no winning the game of business and the reason is because we haven’t agreed to the rules. I get such a kick out of this, you realize how many companies actually don’t know the game they’re in, right? Listen to the language that the companies use, “We’re trying to beat our competition,” “We’re trying to be number one,” “Did you know that we were ranked number one? Look at the listing based on what criteria? Revenues, profits, market share, square footage, number of employees, based on what time frame? A quarter, a year, five years, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, 100 years? I haven’t agreed to those standards, how can you declare yourself the winner? How can you declare yourself number one when no one else in the game has agreed to the rules, it’s arbitrary, there is no winning, because there’s no end.”

In other words, companies are playing finite games, listen to their language, they’re trying to beat their competition, what does that even mean? It’s the leaders and the companies that understand the game that they’re in and organize their resources and their decision making around the infinite contest that outlast and frustrate their competition. All the companies that we refer to as the exceptions, Southwest Airlines, Apple Computers, Harley-Davidson, they’re the exception? No, they’re playing the infinite contest, they frustrate their competition is what happens, that’s what happens because they’re not playing to win.

Jim Senegal, the founder of Costco, which is the comp, the only real company that gives Walmart a run for its money, he says public companies are looking to succeed for the quarter, he says we’re looking for the next 50 years, you can hear him, he’s playing the infinite contest. I spoke at a leadership summit for Microsoft, I also spoke at a leadership summit for Apple. Now, at the Microsoft summit, I would say 70 percent of the executives, and this was under the Steve Ballmer days, I would say about 70 of the executives spent about 70 percent of their presentations talking about how to beat Apple. At the Apple summit, a hundred percent of the executives spent a hundred percent of their presentations talking about how to help teachers teach and how to help students learn, one was obsessed with their competition, the other one was obsessed with where they’re going. So at the end of my presentation at Microsoft, they gave me a gift.

Finding Love and Fulfillment

Either like you find somebody who cares about you, that you care about, you fall in love. I’m not sure exactly what day it happened, and then you work tirelessly every day to stay in love because if you stop working, the love goes away. And it’s the same at work. You don’t find a job you love; you find a place where you share the values, you fit, they care about you as a human being, you fall in love with your job, and you work tirelessly, tirelessly every day to take care of the people around you and you remain fulfilled. So, I think the whole concept of searching for happiness or searching for the job that you love or searching for love is completely misguided. It’s finding an area where you could work hard at it, and then you have to work hard to keep it, and the worst part is, so do they, and if one of you quits, then the thing goes haywire, and that goes for employees and for management which is they have to work hard but at this and so do we.

So, I think our language is not helping us, right? We don’t always have to be right, we don’t always have to be in charge, we don’t have to be the one who succeeds. It’s not about winning or losing. And that’s where I go to the second point after empathy comes perspective, where it’s not about winning or losing in game theory, there are two kinds of games. There are finite games and there are infinite games, and this is how you’re going to change your perspective, right? A finite game is defined as known players, fixed rules, and an agreed-upon objective. Baseball, for example, we know the rules, we all agree to the rules, and whoever has more runs at the end of nine innings is the winner, and the game is over. No one ever says, “We can just play two more innings, I know we can come back.” It doesn’t work that way. The game is over, right? That’s a finite game.

Then you have an infinite game. Infinite games are defined as known and unknown players, the rules are changeable, and the objective is to keep the game in play, to perpetuate the game. When you pit a finite player versus a finite player, the system is stable, baseball is stable, right? When you pit an infinite player versus an infinite player, the system is also stable, like the Cold War, for example, because there cannot be a winner and a loser. There are no winners and losers in an infinite game, right? It doesn’t exist, and because there are no winners or losers, what ends up happening in the infinite contest is players drop out when they run out of the will or the resources to play, but there’s no winners or losers, problems arise when you pit a finite player versus an infinite player because then a finite player is playing to win, and an infinite player is playing to keep the game going, right? This is what happened to us in Vietnam. We were playing to win, and the Vietnamese were fighting for their lives. We were the ones who got stuck in the quagmire. This is the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. They were trying to beat the Mujahideen, and the Mujahideen would fight for as long as is necessary, quagmire.

Now let’s look at business. The game of business has pre-existed or has existed long before every single company that exists on this planet today, and it will outlast every single company that it lives that exists on this planet today. There’s no winning the game of business, and the reason is because we haven’t agreed to the rules. I get such a kick out of this. You realize how many companies actually don’t know the game they’re in, right? Listen to the language that the companies use. “We’re trying to beat our competition. We’re trying to be number one. Did you know that we were ranked number one? Look at the listing.” Based on what criteria? Revenues, profits, market share, square footage, number of employees, based on what time frame? A quarter, a year, five years, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, 100 years? I haven’t agreed to those standards. How can you declare yourself the winner? How can you declare yourself number one when no one else in the game has agreed to the rules? It’s arbitrary. There is no winning because there’s no end. In other words, companies are playing finite games. Listen to their language. They’re trying to beat their competition. What does that even mean? It’s the leaders and the companies that understand the game that they’re in and organize their resources and their decision making around the infinite contest that outlast and frustrate their competition.

All the companies that we refer to as the exceptions, Southwest Airlines, Apple Computers, Harley-Davidson, they’re the exception? No, they’re playing the infinite contest. They frustrate their competition is what happens. That’s what happens because they’re not playing to win. Jim Senegal, the founder of Costco, which is the only real company that gives Walmart a run for its money, he says, “Public companies are looking to succeed for the quarter.” He says, “We’re looking for the next 50 years.” You can hear him. He’s playing the infinite contest.

I spoke at a leadership summit for Microsoft. I also spoke at a leadership summit for Apple. Now at the Microsoft summit, I would say 70 percent of the executives, and this was under the Steve Ballmer days, I would say about 70 of the executives spent about 70 percent of their presentations talking about how to beat Apple. At the Apple summit, a hundred percent of the executives spent a hundred percent of their presentations talking about how to help teachers teach and how to help students learn. One was obsessed with their competition, the other one was obsessed with where they’re going.

And the reason Apple frustrates their competition is because secretly they’re not even competing against them. They’re competing against themselves. And they understand but sometimes you’re a little bit ahead, and sometimes you’re a little bit behind, and sometimes your product is better, and sometimes you’re not. But if you wake up every single morning and compete against yourself, “How do I make our products better than they were yesterday? How do I take care of our customers better than we did yesterday? How do we advance our cause more efficiently, more productively than we did yesterday? How do we find new solutions to advance our calling, our cause, our purpose, our belief, our why every single day?” What you’ll find is over time, you will probably be ahead more often.

Those who play the infinite game understand it’s not about the battle. It’s about the war. And they don’t play to win every day, and they frustrate their competition until their competition drops out of the game. Every single bankruptcy, almost every merger and acquisition is basically a company saying we no longer have the will or the resources to continue to play, and we have no choice but to either drop out of the game or merge our resources with another player, so that we can stay in the game. That’s what that is. And if you think about the number of bankruptcies and mergers and acquisitions, it’s kind of proof that