So let’s get down to business.
Speaking about business we have to start with what we think about business. How we view business and what game we are playing in business. The reason why we are going to focus on this first, because many business organizations and many leaders they don’t know and therefore they don’t understand what game they are playing in, running their businesses.
According toВ James Carse there are two types ofВ games inВ business: finite and infinite. Finite means limited and infinite means unlimited.
Let’s talk about finite game first.
Finite game is the game where players are known, rules are fixed and the object is agreed upon.
For example: AВ football. We all know the players. We all know the rules, they cannot be changed. And we all know the object ofВ the game is toВ beat the competitor. InВ other words, the players are playing toВ win the game.
Now let’s talk about infinite game. In infinite game there are known and unknown players. The rules are changeable and the object is to perpetuate the game. In other words, the players are playing to continue to play. There cannot be a winner and there cannot be a loser.
If two finite-minded players are competing against each other, the system is stable.
If two infinite-minded payers are playing against each other, the system is also stable.
The problem arises when aВ finite-minded player starts playing versus an infinite-minded player.
Because one is playing toВ beat the competitor, the other is playing toВ play.
Take for example, the war inВ Vietnam. The Americans were trying toВ beat the Vietnamese people. The Vietnamese people were fighting toВ survive.
If you are inВ business, you realize that the game ofВ business is an infinite game. Business is an infinite game because players come and leave, but the game continues with them or without them.
The companies that are playing the infinite game will frustrate their competitors. The goal is not toВ beat your competitor. The goal is toВ outlast your competitor.
Of course, we want to create and develop the mindset of an infinite player. The infinite players don’t actually compete against their competitors, they compete against themselves. Every single day they try to become better versions of themselves than they were yesterday.
There are five things that have toВ happen toВ really become aВ leader for infinite game.
1.В You have toВ have aВ higher purpose.
2. You have toВ have aВ trusting team.
3. You have toВ have worthy rivals.
4. You have toВ have the capacity for existential flexibility.
5. You have toВ have the courage toВ lead.
This is the end of the course introduction. You know what to do, right? Listen to this introduction a few times a day. Follow your basic plan and use your body to help you understand the material better and remember it faster and longer. Next is the first unit which is called “A Higher Purpose”. See you there.
Unit 1. AВ Higher Purpose
Hello, there! This is Alex. Hope, you are having a nice day today. My goal is to help you speak business English like never before. My ultimate goal is to help you become a better human being. Okay, welcome to the main audio for “A Higher Purpose”.
There is a fantastic man, named Simon Sinek. He is a best-selling author, writer and a brilliant public speaker, the man with a rare intellect. And he wrote a fantastic, wonderful, great book called “Start with why?”
The reason I am going to use his book first is that many people they know what they do in life. They know how they do it. But just a few know why they do it. If you ask someone, “Why do you go to work every day?” Ninety five percent of them will answer, “I go to work, become everybody goes to work”. You see, they don’t know why they are doing it.
As Simon Sinek says, “Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows what they do, one hundred percent – these are the products you sell, or the services you offer. Some of them know how they do it, it’s how you differ from others, or what makes you special, but very very few people and very very few organizations can clearly state, articulate or say why they do what they do. By “Why” I don’t mean to make money. It is not a secret that we all work for money. But the money you make that is the result of what you do. It’s always the result.
By “Why” I mean what’s your purpose? What’s your cause? What’s your belief? Why does your company exist? Why did you get out of bed in the morning? Why should anyone care?
This is the way we think, the way we act, the way we communicate. We all start with what we do, then we say how we do it and only then we say why we doВ it.
That’s how most of marketing is done. That’s how most sales are done. And that’s how most of us communicate interpersonally. We say what we do, we say how we are different or how we are better and we expect some sort of behavior and purchases from other people.
But if you look and hear how great, huge and really successful leaders communicate, you will notice that they all do it in reverse. They all start with “Why” they do what they do. Then they say how they do it and then and only then they say what they do.
Now let’s look at the way Apple Company actually communicates their ideas selling their products to us.
“Everything we do we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our product beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. We just happened to make great computers. Wanna buy one?” Totally different, right? No tricks, no manipulations, no celebrity endorsement (approvals).
This is the way our brain actually works and communicates. If you reverse the order of the information, you will prove that people don’t buy what you do. People buy why you do it.
If you talk about what you believe, you will attract those people who believe what you believe.
Why when we start with “what” it doesn’t work very well, but when we start with “why” it certainly does.
It doesn’t work very well because when we start with what, we are talking directly to the part of the brain that is responsible for rational and analytical thought and language.
The next two, I mean: “how” and “why”. They are responsible for all our feelings like: trust and loyalty. It is also responsible for all human behavior, all decision-making that has no capacity for language.
In other words, when we communicate with “what”, yes, people can understand vast amounts of complicated information like: facts, figures and benefits. But it doesn’t drive behavior. It doesn’t make them take actions. It doesn’t help them buy better from you.
When we communicate from “why”, we are talking directly to the part of the brain that controls behavior and then we allow people to rationalize it with the tangible things (something we can touch and feel) we say and do”.
That’s why we absolutely must know why we do what we do, how we do it and what we do. Because if you don’t, how will you make people buy something from you or more importantly how you will make people be loyal to you and be a part of what you do.
So what is AВ Higher Purpose?
AВ Higher Purpose is the cause, the reason that is so just that you would willingly sacrifice your own interests inВ order toВ advance this cause, this higher purpose.
You must give your people the higher purpose. You have toВ tell why they do what theyВ do.
It is important because if you have aВ purpose, you exactly know what toВ do inВ your life or with your life. For example, you want toВ do something creative or you want toВ be someone like aВ doctor or aВ teacher. That is your purpose, your goal. That is something you want toВ do inВ your life. Something that motivates you toВ do what you wannaВ do.
Remember: People don’t buy what you do. People buy why you do it. And what you do simply serves the tangible prove of what you believe.
This is the reason why every single person is perfectly comfortable buying aВ computer from Apple. And we are also perfectly comfortable buying an MP3 player from Apple, or aВ phone from Apple.
For this little idea toВ work you have toВ have three things:
One – you have to know why you what you do. If you don’t know why you do what you. How will anyone else?
Two – you have to have disciple of how. You have to hold yourself and have people who are responsible to your values and your guiding principles.
And three – you have to have consistency of what.
Everything you say and everything you do. Everything must prove what you believe. At the end of the day – “why” is just a belief. It’s all what it is.
“Hows” are the actions we take to realize that beliefs and “whats” are the results of those actions.
And if what you say and what you do – doesn’t show what you believe then no one will know what you believe.
As Simon Sinek likes to say “The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is not to beat the competitor. The goal is to outlast the competitor. And you can only do it when you do business with people who believe what you believe. People who believe what you believe will work for you with blood, sweat and tears. People who don’t believe what you believe will work for your money. The same is true for customers. Whose who believe what you believe will go out of their way to do business with you. Whose who don’t believe what you believe wanna cheaper”.
What about you? What is your higher purpose in life? Oh, by the way, if you don’t have a higher purpose, it is not a big deal. Why? Because you can always create it. Promise? Okay, I know you are serious about it. Just do it.
So that’s it for the main article here of “A Higher Purpose.” Now you are going to listen to the related story for “A Higher Purpose”.
Tony the tiger owned aВ computer company. He wanted his company toВ be the best inВ the world.
He often said, “We’ve got to be the number one in the world. We’ve got to be the best. We’ve got to beat our competitors.”
But Tony the tiger had aВ problem. What was his problem?
He had a bad team of employees. The people didn’t want to stay late in the office. They didn’t want to go on frequent business trips. They didn’t want to be away from their families. In other words, they didn’t willingly sacrifice their lives to the company.
Every time when they got better job offers, without thinking, they agreed and left Tony’s company immediately. Tony the tiger didn’t know what to do. Tony was frustrated.
One day he was invited to a dinner party. At the party there was a special guest – Simon Sinek. Simon gave a brilliant speech. From the speech Tony the tiger learned that to have a great team, the company has to have the Higher Purpose. In other words, the reason why the company exists.
Tony the tiger decided to follow Simon’s advice. He said to his people, “My goal was to beat the competitors, but I was wrong. Now our goal is to outlast the competition and to become a better company than we were just yesterday. Our goal is to produce the best computers to help people in their jobs” This is our Higher Purpose.
Everybody liked the idea ofВ having the Higher Purpose. Everybody agreed toВ contribute toВ the company. Everybody wanted toВ be valuable toВ other people. Tony the tiger was happy and so were his people.
This is the end of the story for “A Higher Purpose”. Next is the vocabulary lesson. See you there.
Unit 1. AВ Higher Purpose
This is Alex and this is your vocabulary lesson for “A Higher Purpose”.
