Simon Sinek Quotes
-
I never imagined I'd be working with government, or military or politicians or big companies. None of this stuff I'm doing was on any business plan anywhere ever.
-
I never imagined I'd write a book.
-
Quality effective leaders have the confidence to trust others to try, succeed, and sometimes to fail. We very often confuse personality with leadership. In other words, leadership is not about being a nice person or not a nice person.
-
Our survival depends on our ability to form trusting relationships.
-
I try to find, celebrate and teach leaders how to build platforms that will inspire others.
-
A leader should not take credit when things go right if they are not willing to accept responsibility when things go wrong.
-
Disney became hated. It became one of the evil corporations. It used to be loved. They couldn't hold onto talent; they couldn't attract talent. Some of their products did badly. The Californialand project was a $5 billion waste of money. They couldn't make it work. The magic had gone, no pun intended.
-
Average companies give their people something to work on. The most innovative organizations give their people something to work toward.
-
All these companies that grew to any sizable proportions were all founded with a belief or a cause bigger than their products or services. It was their products or services that helped them bring that cause to life.
-
Pilots have their names painted just beneath the canopy of their aircraft. This gives the pilot a sense of ownership for his or her jet. What's more, like cars, each aircraft has its own personality, so it's important for a pilot to get to know and love his aircraft.
-
A true friend is someone with whom protocol is no longer necessary.
-
Curiosity is essential for progress. Only when we look to worlds beyond our own can we really know if there's room for improvement.
-
Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them. People are either motivated or they are not. Unless you give motivated people something to believe in, something bigger than their job to work toward, they will motivate themselves to find a new job and you’ll be stuck with whoever’s left.
-
We should invest in people not ideas. A good idea is often destroyed by bad people and good people can always make a bad idea better.
-
Any parent who tells their kids that they can't attend a school play or go to a soccer match because they have to work is kidding themselves. It's OK to miss a game or two or a performance here and there, but it's not all right to miss the majority of them.
-
Reality will always prevail so why help it? Be an idealist and see what happens.
-
The primary ingredient for progress is optimism. The unwavering belief that something can be better drives the human race forward.
-
Words may inspire but only action creates change.
-
Wal-Mart's size and scale is so vast they literally have the ability to change the face of the entire country. If Wal-Mart were to make a decision tomorrow to refuse to sell a single product made with partially hydrogenated oils, for example, we'd probably see rates from heart disease decline a few years later. That's how powerful Wal-Mart is.
-
Leadership is like parenting.
-
I don't care about preaching to the converted.
-
Followers want to be taken care of. Leaders want to take care of others. We can all be leaders.
-
When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.
-
The responsibility of leadership is not to come up with all the ideas but to create an environment in which great ideas can thrive.