The Games We Play
The most successful entrepreneurs I know of have a keen eye on cost. Contrary, to various schools of thought that espouse ‘greater risk, greater reward’, these entrepreneurs in actual practice bet heavily on ‘low risk, high upside’.
The inexperienced or brainwashed tend to wonder why is it that most businesses fail or why do people fail in any endeavor. Experience has taught me that misinformation can not only be a hindrance, but sometimes detrimental towards progress and achievement.
This isn’t only with regards to information regarding towards practice and process, but also with information regarding personal identity and social narratives. Often times, institutions are set up with a purported purpose and have created a veneer of being trustworthy and competent with saavy marketing and rhetoric. These institutions supposedly for the good of those which they serve, either slow down or create the opposite of what they espouse to achieve. Subverting the original spirit of the endeavor for personal gain, they leave their clients worse off in the name of supporting such communities.
There are, however, also genuine institutions who meet or exceed their purported intentions. These institutions are marked with fierce rationality, uncompromisingly devoted to integrity and the excellence in which they view their stewardship. Neither perfect nor invulnerable to fallibility - prompt honesty and decisive ‘right’ action correct mistakes promptly as they arise. Compassion is prominent as the culture itself quickly clears misunderstanding and dispels rumors that have no basis in reality. More important than the amount of capital given to these stewards is the ethical and intelligent allocation of all resources. Devoted to higher principle these companies are unattached to gain or loss preferring to maintain the integrity in which they identify with and operate.
In the long, the aggregate of compromises which seemed to be viable stopgaps for the incompetent institutions end up being more costly to the institutions themselves. The genuine institutions find that their steadfastness towards higher principle purchased more than they have previously thought. Qualities that do not show up on the balance sheet but contribute the happiness of all involved begin to become an experiential reality. The culture in such workplaces become permeated with a subtle joy which expresses itself in everyday kindness, deserved trust, and mutual respect. This is not to say that the balance sheet is not rewarded as well, compound interest as Albert Einstein once remarked, is the eighth wonder of the world.
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Summary and Implications
Implicit in any institution is a prevailing shared wordview, mostly apparent in games like Pokemon Go, in which the shared worldview is literally showed to those who have purchased the game application and those that have not. People who share similar worldviews are subject the incentives as defined by the game and experience the concordant emotionality of disappointment, frustration, and pleasure that comes with perceived gain or loss. From the viewpoint of those who do not share such a distinct worldview, such reactions seem strange or even fascinating and yet by not being participants themselves are free from the emotionality and changes in behavior of those who participate in the game.
Games range from more obvious constructs like mobile games to more established institutions such as community college. The main point is not whether these games or institutions have a purported purpose, but whether or not the implicit worldview is aligned with reality. To navigate New York, a map of New Jersey would be of little value. To imply that a given worldview and methodology will fulfill a particular goal is a presumption which requires scrutiny. While the seeming benefits of participating in such games may be apparent, the cost of such benefits needs to be evaluated within the context of one’s life overall to be able to discern whether or not such benefits can be of any lasting value. Perspectives are not ‘self existent equal realties’ but maps with varying degrees of accuracy and practical value compared to an absolute ‘territory’. Worldviews and the games we play can have disastrous consequences or they can be a boon of accurate and worthwhile maps for those awareness who allocate their attention wisely.