Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't Author: Simon Sinek | Language: English | ISBN:
B00DGZKQM8 | Format: PDF
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't Description
Why do only a few people get to say “I love my job”? It seems unfair that finding fulfillment at work is like winning a lottery; that only a few lucky ones get to feel valued by their organizations, to feel like they belong. Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels trusted and valued during the day, then returns home feeling fulfilled.
This is not a crazy, idealized notion. Today, in many successful organizations, great leaders are creating environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things.
In his travels around the world since the publication of his bestseller
Start with Why, Simon Sinek noticed that some teams were able to trust each other so deeply that they would literally put their lives on the line for each other. Other teams, no matter what incentives were offered, were doomed to infighting, fragmentation and failure. Why?
The answer became clear during a conversation with a Marine Corps general.
“Officers eat last,” he said.
Sinek watched as the most junior Marines ate first while the most senior Marines took their place at the back of the line. What’s symbolic in the chow hall is deadly serious on the battlefield: great leaders sacrifice their own comfort—even their own survival—for the good of those in their care.
This principle has been true since the earliest tribes of hunters and gatherers. It’s not a management theory; it’s biology. Our brains and bodies evolved to help us find food, shelter, mates and especially safety. We’ve always lived in a dangerous world, facing predators and enemies at every turn. We thrived only when we felt safe among our group.
Our biology hasn’t changed in fifty thousand years, but our environment certainly has. Today’s workplaces tend to be full of cynicism, paranoia and self-interest. But the best organizations foster trust and cooperation because their leaders build what Sinek calls a Circle of Safety that separates the security inside the team from the challenges outside.
The Circle of Safety leads to stable, adaptive, confident teams, where everyone feels they belong and all energies are devoted to facing the common enemy and seizing big opportunities.
As he did in
Start with Why, Sinek illustrates his ideas with fascinating true stories from a wide range of examples, from the military to manufacturing, from government to investment banking.
The biology is clear: when it matters most, leaders who are willing to eat last are rewarded with deeply loyal colleagues who will stop at nothing to
advance their leader’s vision and their organization’s interests. It’s amazing how well it works.
- File Size: 2063 KB
- Print Length: 257 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1591845327
- Publisher: Portfolio (January 7, 2014)
- Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00DGZKQM8
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,985 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #2
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Management & Leadership > Teams - #5
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Organizational Behavior > Workplace - #10
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Management & Leadership > Motivational
- #2
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Management & Leadership > Teams - #5
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Organizational Behavior > Workplace - #10
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Management & Leadership > Motivational
There are many books on Leadership that have little to say. Sinek's book has both new insights and an inspiring vision.
Sinek begins with biology and outlines the roles of chemicals - specifically Endorphins, Dopamine, Serotonin and Oxytocin - and how evolution has dictated why we generate them and how we respond to them. Endorphins mask pain and help give you a `runner's high' or the intense satisfaction after a tough work out.
Dopamine leads to your `feeling good' upon accomplishing a goal whether that is bringing home dinner while evading sabre-toothed tigers or doing a bang-up job on a major presentation. Think of endorphins and Dopamine as the `individual achievement' chemicals. We need them to excel at what we do.
Serotonin is what gives you a feeling of gratitude and affection for the persons who supported you in your endeavors and the good feeling as they applaud you. Oxytocin is `love' chemical. It gives you the warm fuzzies you get when you hug someone or have a deep meaningful conversation. Think of Serotonin and Oxytocin as the `social' chemicals.
We, as humans, need both the individual achievement and social chemicals to progress. What has happened, unfortunately, in our society is that mores and values have changed to emphasize the former to such an extent that a deadly imbalance has been created. It is truly toxic - your job may be killing you. I used to think this was hyperbole but Sinek presents enough evidence for me to revise this opinion.
Central to Sinek's arguments is the `Circle of Safety'. When a sabre-toothed tiger attacks a herd of buffalos they gather together with their tails touching and horns out. Whichever direction that tiger attacks, it is met with impenetrable defense. This is the circle of safety.
“Leaders Eat Last” written by Simon Sinek is a book about leadership that does not offer any new theories or principles but instead skillfully explains what makes the difference between good and bad leadership and how to help an organization or people that you manage to feel happier and more satisfied.
Before reading the book I wasn’t aware that the Huffington Post has included Sinek’s book into the list of “The 12 Business Books to Read in 2014” (moreover in the first place), but after I read it that doesn’t surprise me because it’s truly a book for everyone who works with people and manage them.
In the book foreword, retired US General George J. Flynn nicely wrote that an organization’s success or failure is based on leadership excellence and not managerial acumen – and this is one of the common situations in business when leadership is equated with management, which, although in many ways are overlapping and complement each other, are not the words that mean the same thing.
For this reason, the author in his book explains why management can’t be enough to sustain any organization in the long run; he explains the human behavior elements that are causing organization to perform well over certain period of time, but lose its breath in the long run, the reason being their people lacking the good leadership.
The author simply defines leadership - it’s an environment where people are important, their thinking matters, where values are shared and together they are passing through the good and bad, knowing that it is all an integral part of every job and life.
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