Simon Sinek: Why Leaders Eat Last

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• published: 04 Dec 2013
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About this presentation In this in-depth talk, ethnographer and leadership expert Simon Sinek reveals the hidden dynamics that inspire leadership and trust. In biological terms, leaders get the first pick of food and other spoils, but at a cost. When danger is present, the group expects the leader to mitigate all threats even at the expense of their personal well-being. Understanding this deep-seated expectation is the key difference between someone who is just an "authority" versus a true "leader." For more on this topic, check out Sinek's latest book Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't now available for pre-order. Watch more videos here: http://www.99u.com 3:30 Happiness breakdown (4 chemicals) 5:53 1) Endorphins 7:16 Importance of endurance 7:59 2) Dopamine 8:19 Dopamine is to make sure get stuff done 9:10 Goals must be tangible - we have to see the goal to stay focused 10:17 Dopamine is dangerous when unbalanced 15:07 Feel safe 15:40 In our organization, danger isn't a constant it is a variable 17:05 The responsibility of leadership is 2 things: 1) Determine who gets in and who doesn't 2) how big do we make the circle of safety 17:33 Great leaders extend safety to the outermost of the org 17:53 3) Serotonin - leadership chemical 19:30 Trying to enforce relationships 22:22 Value of group-living 22:28 Being alpha comes at a cost 26:01 The cost of leadership is self-interest 27:15 Makes you feel safe 27:34 4) Oxytocin 29:03 Businesses aren't rational, it's about feeling safe. "It's human -- physical touch" 29:27 "Human bonds matter" 29:29 Act of human generosity 32:19 Leaders spend time/energy not money 37:30 You have to make sure you can trust others as leaders because you won't have time to help everyone 38:47 Cortisone - the feeling of stress and anxiety 40:59 Needs to shut down during times 41:42 Cortisone inhabits oxytocin 42:18 "Our jobs are killing us.. leaders are responsible" 43:12 Leadership is a decision, a choice. About Simon Sinek A trained ethnographer and the author of Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, Simon Sinek has held a life-long curiosity for why people and organizations do the things they do. Studying the leaders and companies that make the greatest impact in the world and achieve a more lasting success than others, he discovered the formula that explains how they do it. Sinek's amazingly simple idea, The Golden Circle, is grounded in the biology of human decision-making and is changing how leaders and companies think and act. His innovative views on business and leadership have earned him invitations to meet with an array of leaders and organizations, including Microsoft, Dell, SAP, Intel, Chanel, Members of the United States Congress, and the Ambassadors of Bahrain and Iraq. Sinek recently became an adjunct staff member of the RAND Corporation, one of the most highly regarded think tanks in the world. He also works with the non-profit Education for Employment Foundation to help create opportunities for young men and women in the Middle East region. He lives in New York, where he teaches graduate level strategic communications at Columbia University. About 99U The 99U delivers the action-oriented education that you didn't get in school, highlighting real-world best practices for making ideas happen.