The Infinite Game

At the start of Chapter 5, Sinek makes a grim observation about the longevity of modern companies. The average life of a company today “is less than 20 years” (70). Though many people attribute disruptive technology to this phenomenon, Sinek claims that “shortsightedness,” a symptom of finite-minded leaders, is the main cause (70-71). He pivots to the theoretical history of shortsightedness in business. He attributes the modern prioritization of leaders making money to Milton Friedman, the father of modern capitalism, who wrote a watershed article in 1970, “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.” Sinek believes this one-dimensional view of business “undermines the very system of capitalism it proclaims to embrace” (72). As an alternative, he cites Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations, to defend a style of capitalism that benefits both producers and consumers. Originally, Smith intended for the interests of the producer—the company—to be secondary to the interests of the consumer—the customer. However, he couldn’t predict the rise in shareholders or financial analyst communities that would disrupt this simple maxim. Friedman’s “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits” discusses executives and owners seeing themselves as shareholders who need only focus on profit.