Review of Simon Sinek Interview with Marie Forleo

Marie Forleo interviewed author and business owner, Simone Sinek on what it takes to inspire others within a business environment. Simon is known for writing “Leaders Eat First” and “Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action”. Simon’s goal is to help build a world where people go home every day feeling fulfilled. Before Simon began inspiring others, he had to inspire himself. Simon explained how he lost passion for his work and made the decision to confront his problem, which later leads to his concept of WHY. Simon details his experience in Afghanistan that restored his passion to a level that he’d never experienced.

3 Things that I learned from the video:

1. Leaders are responsible for the mental safety of their workers. Leaders influence the environment by establishing a workplace that creates family-like relationships. When the environment is safe, humans are more influenced to do remarkable things. Humans are social animals and we respond to the environments we’re in. Put a good person in a bad environment, and he or she tends to perform poorly, and vice versa. “This is why we have leaders because leaders are responsible for setting the conditions to create a safe environment.” Leaders are responsible for building that environment. If we create an environment in which people are comfortable around their own the natural response will be trust and cooperation.
2. Authority vs Leadership. Authority could create fear in the employee toward the leader. Fear means employees are wasting their efforts on protecting themselves rather than doing their best work. Leaders are in place to train and give their employees opportunity to fail and respond. Just because someone has authority does not mean employees will follow them. Leaders create an environment where employees want to work while advancing their vision because they believe in their leader. A leader should never feel safe until his people are safe first.
3. Humans are designed to take care of each other. Simon explains, as social animals, it is in our biology that we naturally take care of each other and the environment. It naturally feels good when we do something for someone else with no expectation of anything in return. When we take care of each other the dose of oxytocin in spread through every interaction.

What stuck with you?

One thing that stuck with me after Simon’s interview is to create a comfortable environment. A suitable environment is the beginning of inspiring others. Today, people are influenced by many things like social media, trends, music, false standards, etc. but leaders can create a vibe that disregards the outside world. A leader must give employees the influence and opportunities to thrive through expectation. I believe people work harder for the people they care about. I have learned from my own experiences that a family-like atmosphere is the best place to improve because a standard of excellence has to be put in place by your peers who actually care about their work environment.