Leaders Eat Last – Simon Sinek
If you haven’t read any of Simon Sinek’s books, I’d start with Leaders Eaters Last. Get it? Start with the “Last?” Sorry, but I couldn’t resist. I loved reading this book, and it taught me a lot about being a leader and doing right by others. Below are my highlights, but on a side note: “Let us all be the leaders we wish we had.”
Highlights
- Don’t prioritize performance over people. Statistics are not people. Remember people.
- Always help others.
- There’s nothing “wrong” with the millennial generation. There’s a lot we have to learn but there’s a lot we can do, a lot we can teach, and many we can inspire.
- Leaders of an organization must first treat them like people. To earn trust, he must extend trust. This environment allows people to fully engage their heads and hearts.
- We have all, at some time, rationalized our position or our place and continued doing exactly what we were doing. Like a bad relationship, even if we don’t like it, we don’t leave. Maybe its the feeling of the devil-you-know-is-better-than-the-devil-you-don’t.
- It’s common knowledge that we shouldn’t go to the supermarket when we’re hungry (although, it’s super fun).
- Endorphins and dopamine are the reason that we are driven to hunt, gather, and achieve. They make us feel good when we find something we’re looking for, building something we need, or accomplish our goals.
- You can’t laugh and be surprised at the same time.
- All the perks, all the benefits, and advantages you may get for the rank or position you hold, they aren’t meant for you. They are meant for the role you fill.
- It is better that we all suffer a little so that none of us have to suffer a lot.
- Our ability to work hard and muscle through hard labor is thanks to endorphins and our ability to set goals, focus and get things done comes from incentivizing powers of dopamine. Serotonin helps to ensure we look out for those who follow us do right by those who lead us. And the mysterious power of oxytocin helps us form bonds of love and trust.
- There is no algorithm for a successful relationship.
- Trust must be earned and shared.
- Today, simply because most of us aren’t friends with someone in the military, we have trouble understanding how people can maintain such a deep sense of selfless service.
- We have more than we need.
- As soon as people are put second on the priority list, differentiation gives way to commoditization. And, when that happens, innovation declines and the pressure to compete on things like price, and other short-term strategies, goes up.
- Abundance can be destructive because it abstracts the value of things. The more we have, the less we seem to value what we’ve got.
- When we are able to physically see the positive impact of the decisions we make or the work we do, not only do we feel that our work was worth it, but it also inspires us to work harder and do more.
- Business is a human enterprise. It may even be why we call a business a company because it is a collection of people in the company of other people. It’s the company that matters.
- It is the leaders who decide what kind of environment they want to build.
- People do borrow their best work when they work together, share ideas, and comfortably each other’s work for their own projects. No notion of “mine.”
- Innovation from interaction – hearing one person’s solution to a problem can inform someone else how to solve a problem of their own.
- We train people to comply, not to think. Leaders are to provide direction and intent and allow others to figure out what to do and how to get there.
- People should start telling us what we need to hear rather than what we want to hear.
- Making all the right decisions is not what engenders trust between people or between people and organizations. Being honest does.
- How you do anything is how you do everything.
- What if we judge a leader not on what they do when they are holding the torch but on what happens after they pass it on?
- What both sides of the argument must appreciate is the mutual value of trying to understand the factors that make millennials who they are.
- We are our own best hope.
- The negative feelings you may have about yourself are not unique and not your fault.
We are not victims of our situation. We are the architects.
*I take no credit for any of these points.