Simon Sinek in the video “Don't Pretend You're Purpose Driven” says that when you start a business with an exit strategy, it means you were setting out to play the finite game. You may have a weak culture but you're gonna prioritize making the numbers look good for the buyer, rather than actually building a strong culture. He says that when somebody wants him to get involved in their business, he asks them a little secret question, “What's your exit strategy?” and if they have one, he is not interested in working with them. He further adds that there is no problem with having an exit strategy but an exit should happen organically like you've been doing it for twenty years, you're tired and it's time to exit. In this case, you're gonna hand over a really strong culture with a really wonderful group of people, who you're gonna care about and hopefully, you're gonna sell it to somebody that may not be the highest bidder but it's the best person to continue to carry your torch into the future.
There is no problem with people who play by the finite mindset but they should just stop pretending. He says that he is tired of companies that say that we’re purpose-driven and we care about people but in reality, they don’t. He doesn’t find any problem with the companies who say that we don't care, we're just maximizing profit, take it or leave it because in that case we know what we’re buying and we have the choice to buy into that or not. So, don't pretend and lie that you're purpose-driven and you care about people, just be honest. It's terrible that we're teaching people to start businesses so that they can sell them because if you play by that mindset you're going to make very different decisions about your people, your product, your ingredients, and even how you treat your customer.
