Infinite Mindset for Businesses in a Post Covid World

Covid-19 has drastically changed our lives and the world around us. While we wait to go back to normal, let me tell you a fact, there is no longer a normal available to go back to, and our lives will no longer be the same after coronavirus. To be honest, I don’t think be we should consider this as negative, maybe we do not need to go back to normal, maybe it is an opportunity for us to evolve.

I recently saw a LinkedIn live session by Simon Sinek, with a very interesting insight.  It talked about a concept called infinite mindset and how it helps the society as a whole understand and evolve out of the pandemic with the use of some examples.

According to Simon Sinek, the author of the book ‘The Infinite Game’, Infinite mindset means knowing that such a calamity has taken place before and while it is very horrible, we evolve from it. For argument sake, lets consider a situation where the human lifespan is 1000 years, we would have witnessed a few pandemics until now and we would know that we will come out of it. Just like in our current lifespan, when we hear a cyclone approaching, we know it’s destructive, but we can deal with it!

I am in no way trying to underplay the graveness of the pandemic; I am just trying to tell you that each one of us is equipped to deal with it.

Let’s compare the changing order from coronavirus with the changes due to the internet. While for starters life has never been the same as it was. Companies that did not adapt to the internet were driven out of business and myriad new opportunities were created for people who could evolve and adapt. A good example here would be how the blockbuster video could not survive the rise of content delivery networks and Kodak could not survive the arrival of digital photography due to lack of innovation and adaptability, while newer businesses like Facebook and Bitcoin have taken the world by a storm. So the theory of infinite mindset helps us realize is that things are surely changing, but our lives and especially the business world is not without precedence or capability to accommodate huge changes.

Similarly, the Covid situation has brought us to a place where to keep our businesses relevant, we need to analyze and innovate with our existing resources, to produce solutions and products that are a need of the new world. Although the Covid situation seems damaging for the economy in the short run, it comes with a hoard of opportunities.

We are faced with a new situation due to a pandemic, but this can happen due to various reasons which include

• Owing to the arrival of new technologies – Internet, Digitalization, Artificial intelligence, etc.
• Due to change in particular policies – regulations, outlawing, limiting, or permitting specific activities.
• New ventures disrupt the existing situation by doing business in a different way- Jio
• Customer requirements change over time needing an adjustment in your existing buyers’ persona.

In a finite game, if we consider the example of any sport, function with a defined set of rules specific to the sport. The players know this, and understand that there are normal ways of achieving a permanent victory or lead to checkmate in chess and full time in football.

But business, politics, and marriage are infinite in nature. They cannot be defined by any final victory. The rules are ever-changing and so are the players, which means there is no one way of doing things. A business’ capability to adapt to its circumstance allows it to handle shifting challenges with just innovation and hard work.