Last week I had the good fortune to watch my daughter graduate and to hear a remarkable speech later in that same week by Glen Mazzara. In his speech he quoted the following from the book Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse :
There are at least two kinds of games: finite and infinite.
A finite game is a game that has fixed rules and boundaries, that is played for the purpose of winning and thereby ending the game.
An infinite game has no fixed rules or boundaries. In an infinite game you play with the boundaries and the purpose is to continue the game.
And those words were enough for me to take a trip to the library and read on. Well! I have only read a small portion of the book but it has explained something about work that has always baffled me. I have known for years that somehow I am not playing the same game as the people I work for and with. I would ask myself “what do they think they are going to win?”. Now I understand that they win a TITLE. Once the TITLE is won, the game is over. Over. Nothing more must change because the game is over.
But I am playing an infinite game where the point is to continue play. Infinite games can include finite games, but finite games do not include infinite games.
So my new insight is that those finite games are only a small part of the larger game. Discrete scenes in a larger production. And I, as a voluntary player, can choose to take on or cast off roles as desired.
