Open Speaker Series: Simon Sinek on Leadership
Published in
2 min readJul 24, 2017
Editor’s note: This is a recap from the Open Speaker Series, a regular series of talks held in-house at the Times featuring industry leaders in technology, design, product, organizational culture and leadership.
Perhaps best known for his TED talk on leadership, which has been viewed more than 32 million times, author and motivational speaker Simon Sinek visited The Times on May 22 to share his thoughts on leadership, motivation and the power of “Why.”
The event, which was co-sponsored by the Times’ Open Speaker Series and Women in Tech task force, was moderated by Times CTO Nick Rockwell.
Here are five highlights:
- On prioritizing people in organizations: “The theme that runs through all of my work is people. It seems so obvious; I shouldn’t have to write a book about the fact that people matter and people come first in any organization and the industry, but I think we have forgotten that. Although I have never met a CEO on the planet, who doesn’t think that people are important and they all say how important people are, the problem is that when you show up in corporate events and you look at the list of priorities, yes people are on the list, but they come fourth or fifth. The reality is that people should always come first. Always.”
- On the advantages of putting people first: “… when people feel that the organization knows that they exist and cares about them as human beings their natural biological reaction is to offer their blood sweat and tears to the organization and to the people who care about them. It’s called loyalty.”
- On the importance of leadership training: “Companies should also have robust leadership training programs where people learn skills such as listening, effective confrontation, giving feedback and receiving feedback. Many companies don’t teach leadership.”
- On gender equality on leadership roles: “We tend to value male characteristics in leadership, such aggression and decisiveness, and traditionally female characteristics, such as patience and empathy or caring, tend to be ignored,” he says. “And what you find is that the best leaders tend to embody a good balance of both male and female characteristics and the worst leaders, both male and female, tend to be more masculine.”
- On the power of individuals to change organizations: “Instead of complaining of being the victim, you set yourself on the course of a people-first leadership. Be the leader you wish you had.”