"The leader with an infinite game mindset does not fixate on what and how the competition is doing—but instead focuses on building an organization that is strong and healthy enough to stay in the game for decades to come, no matter what the challenges and upheavals."

The Infinite Game: One Possible Future of Anesthesia in the United States
Sherrer, D. Matthew MD, MBA, FASA, FAACD*; Dutton, Richard P. MD, MBA†; Kamdar, Nirav MD, MPP, MBA‡; Reede, Lynn DNP, MBA, CRNA, FNAP§; Tsai, Mitchell H. MD, MMM, FASA, FAACD∥; Berkowitz, Dan E. MB BCh*; Vetter, Thomas R. MD, MPH, MFA
Anesthesia & Analgesia 137(6):p 1179-1185, December 2023. | DOI: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000006628

"The Infinite Game"

In order to understand the vision of Infinite Anesthesia, we must first reflect on notions explained by James P. Carse ("Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility") and Simon Sinek ("The Infinite Game"). Carse writes that, "A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play." Sinek elaborates on the idea stating, “In a finite game, the game ends when the time is up and the players live on to play another day... In an infinite game, it’s the opposite. It is the game that lives on, and it is the players whose time runs out.” 

How does this translate to health care and the clinical setting? The authors of the "The Infinite Game: One Possible Future of Anesthesia in the United States"— including our department Chair Dr. Dan Berkowitz and Dr. Matt Sherrer—challenge clinicians to apply Sinek's five essential practices for adopting an infinite game mindset, and then build a new anesthesia approach, "Infinite Anesthesia," with these five practices as its core values.­

Lead Infinitely: Framework Resources

Contact

Matt Sherrer, M.D., MBA, FASA, FAACD
dsherrer@uabmc.edu