Simon Sinek Quotations

If you want to be a great leader, remember to treat all people with respect at all times. For one, because you never know when you'll need their help. And two, because it's a sign you respect people, which all great leaders do.

A leader's job is not to do the work for others; it's to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done and to succeed beyond what they thought possible.

Like a good parent can't also be his child's best friend, a leader with authority requires some separation from subordinates.

It's important to slow down, every now and then, for no other reason than to call someone to say 'Hi.' It doesn't have to be a long conversation. Just calling out of the blue does more to let someone know you still care about them than nearly anything else.

Leadership is not about the next election, it's about the next generation.

During World War II, the pilot losses were staggering. In some bombing raids, as many as 80% of the planes that left did not return.

Mergers are like marriages. They are the bringing together of two individuals. If you wouldn't marry someone for the 'operational efficiencies' they offer in the running of a household, then why would you combine two companies with unique cultures and identities for that reason?

Listening is active. At its most basic level, it's about focus, paying attention.

Champions are not the ones who always win races - champions are the ones who get out there and try. And try harder the next time. And even harder the next time. 'Champion' is a state of mind. They are devoted. They compete to best themselves as much if not more than they compete to best others. Champions are not just athletes.

There is no decision that we can make that doesn't come with some sort of balance or sacrifice.

Panic causes tunnel vision. Calm acceptance of danger allows us to more easily assess the situation and see the options.

Offer someone the opportunity to rebuild a company or reinvent an industry as the primary incentive, and it will attract those drawn to the challenge first and the money second.

The world is a bell curve. Classroom test scores, employee performance in a company or how many people really, really like you. No matter the population you're studying, they always fit neatly across the standard deviations of the famous bell curve.

There is a difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak.

The challenge of the unknown future is so much more exciting than the stories of the accomplished past.

Great leaders are willing to sacrifice the numbers to save the people. Poor leaders sacrifice the people to save the numbers.

Corporate culture matters. How management chooses to treat its people impacts everything - for better or for worse.

The most basic human desire is to feel like you belong. Fitting in is important.

If you hire people just because they can do a job, they'll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they'll work for you with blood, sweat, and tears.

We live in times of high stress. Messages that are simple, messages that are inspiring, messages that are life-affirming, are a welcome break from our real lives.

A friend is an emotional bond, just like friendship is a human experience.

The big picture doesn't just come from distance; it also comes from time.

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.

More information is always better than less. When people know the reason things are happening, even if it's bad news, they can adjust their expectations and react accordingly. Keeping people in the dark only serves to stir negative emotions.

If you have the opportunity to do amazing things in your life, I strongly encourage you to invite someone to join you.

The strong bond of friendship is not always a balanced equation; friendship is not always about giving and taking in equal shares. Instead, friendship is grounded in a feeling that you know exactly who will be there for you when you need something, no matter what or when.

No matter when or where, always bring your 'A' game, because you never know when it will open doors for you.

The most effective leaders are actually better at guarding against danger when they acknowledge it that it exists. Cowards, in contrast, cling to the hope that failure will never happen and may be sloppy in the face of danger - not because they don't acknowledge that it exists, but because they are just too afraid of it to look it in the eye.

Starbucks was founded around the experience and the environment of their stores. Starbucks was about a space with comfortable chairs, lots of power outlets, tables and desks at which we could work and the option to spend as much time in their stores as we wanted without any pressure to buy. The coffee was incidental.

At the end of the day, humans are social animals and we are at our best when we get to do things with others who appreciate and enjoy what we enjoy. It's what keeps us human.

Pilots, to a large degree, are like salesmen. They have to be confident to be good at their jobs. They have to practice relentlessly and plan out all the scenarios of the things that could happen when they're out there. Nothing is more important than preparation. They are also mighty competitive, both as individuals and as squadrons.

Nike doesn't want to make products for everyone - they want to make products for champions.

Great leaders state out loud what they intend to do and in doing so, they get things done.

Humility, I have learned, must never be confused with meekness. Humility is being open to the ideas of others.

Leadership is absolutely about inspiring action, but it is also about guarding against mis-action.

When you explain to people what you're trying to do, as opposed to just making demands or delegating tasks, you can build instant trust, even if it's just for that short time you're on the phone.

The irony is, the advertising industry knows everyone hates what they produce. This is why they keep looking for new ways to force people to stay tuned.

Spending time with the military certainly lends itself to some remarkable experiences, and I've been privileged to have had my share.

Some people are born good-looking. Some have the gift of gab. And some are lucky enough to be born smarter than the rest of us. Whether we like it or not, Mother Nature does not dole these characteristics out evenly.

The only time I waste is time I spend doing something that, in my gut, I know I shouldn't. If I choose to spend time playing video games or sleeping in, then it's time well spent, because I chose to do it. I did it for a reason - to relax, to decompress or to feel good, and that was what I wanted to do.

Don't quit. Never give up trying to build the world you can see, even if others can't see it. Listen to your drum and your drum only. It's the one that makes the sweetest sound.

Great leaders don't need to act tough. Their confidence and humility serve to underscore their toughness.

The quality of a leader cannot be judged by the answers he gives, but by the questions he asks.

The lives we live are a bit of a straight-hair vs. curly-hair thing. We often want what we don't have. In reality, it's not about better or worse; it's just perception.

When I was in college, my school newspaper accepted an ad from a Holocaust revisionist organization. This would have been offensive on most college campuses across the country, but I went to a school with a very large Jewish population, so the ad, as you might expect, stirred absolute outrage.

You'll never see the president carry his own luggage, and why? Because even though we know he has luggage, it would reduce his stature if he was too much like us. We need to think of our leaders as being above us, even though they must still relate to us.

Halloween is one of my favorite days of the year. I have a strict rule: I don't work on Halloween and I won't travel on Halloween. Not for any reason.

Spending too much time focused on others' strengths leaves us feeling weak. Focusing on our own strengths is what, in fact, makes us strong.

Most years, if you were to ask me how much I make, the genuine answer is that I have no clue. I usually find out the answer to that question once a year, at tax time, when my accountant tells me.

Though there are lessons that can be learned about becoming a great leader, most exist inherently in the bellies of those who lead.

If we care about the average working American, then Wal-Mart matters. A lot.

Anyone can sell product by dropping their prices, but it does not breed loyalty.

The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.

Republicans are completely befuddled by Obama's 'star power' and don't seem to have a clear or effective strategy to compete.

Notoriously outspoken, his sentences always punctuated with profanities, General George S. Patton was the epitome of what a leader should be like - or so he thought. Patton believed a leader should look and act tough, so he cultivated his image and his personality to match his philosophy.

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.

If you can clearly articulate the dream or the goal, start.

The trick to balance is to not make sacrificing important things become the norm.

The single best machine to measure trust is a human being. We haven't figured out a metric that works better than our own sort of, like, 'There's something fishy about you.'

To become an academic expert takes years of studying. Academic experts are experts in how and what others have done. They use case studies and observation to understand a subject.

Leaders who fail are the ones who do it by themselves. Leaders who succeed are the ones who allow others to help them.

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.

There is not a single one of us with a job that is not completely reliant in some way shape or form on others.

It's always the organizations that are resource constrained that come up with the good ideas to win.

I find, when you're an optimist, life has a funny way of looking after you.

One of the best paradoxes of leadership is a leader's need to be both stubborn and open-minded. A leader must insist on sticking to the vision and stay on course to the destination. But he must be open-minded during the process.

People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it.

Leadership is a way of thinking, a way of acting and, most importantly, a way of communicating.

Actions speak louder than words. All companies say they care, right? But few actually exercise that care.

Directions are instructions given to explain how. Direction is a vision offered to explain why.

Good listeners have a huge advantage. For one, when they engage in conversation, they make people 'feel' heard. They 'feel' that someone really understands their wants, needs and desires. And for good reason; a good listener does care to understand.

In the military, they give medals for people who are willing to sacrifice themselves so that others may survive. In business, we give bonuses to people who sacrifice others.

Bad leaders believe that they have to project control at all times.

There is a difference between giving directions and giving direction.

Babe Ruth was not afraid to strike out. And it was this fearlessness that contributed to his remarkable career.

It is only from the people I've had the good fortune to meet that I am learning the lessons to guide me. Baz Luhrmann, director of 'Moulin Rouge,' for example, has a childlike curiosity about the world. He doesn't pretend to know all the answers - quite the opposite, in fact. He asks loads of questions of everyone.

Over 90% of people go home at the end of the day feeling unfulfilled by their work, and I won't stop working until that statistic is reversed - until over 90% of people go home and can honestly say, 'I love what I do.'

No matter how many or how few people you have reporting to you, you must remember that as you climb higher in the ranks, your words will be taken as commands even if you're just thinking out loud.

I have been inspired by Martin Luther King and how he inspired a movement. I have learned that a cause must be organic; if it is to have an impact it must belong to those who join the movement and not those who lead it.

Every one of us has the capacity to lead

When I was a kid, I was a bit of a space geek. I loved the space program and all things NASA. I would read books about our solar system; I had pictures of the Space Shuttle on my bedroom wall. And yes, I even went to Space Camp.

A sour corporate culture can actually make an entire society unhappy. This means that a strong corporate culture can have a positive impact on a society.

There are two types of claims: those based on hard numbers and those based on slippery numbers.

I look for the hotels that have figured out the comfortable balance - a modern room that is well designed, and really clean sheets.

I don't enjoy eating humble pie; it never tastes good. But I do appreciate it when it happens.

My concern is that we live in an economy in which stabbing someone and waiting for them to complain before we remove the knife has become the normal way of doing business. When did we lose sight of the fact that it's not nice to stab people in the first place?

We can't all be good at everything. This is partly the logic behind having a team in the first place, so each role can be filled with the person best suited for that role and together, every job and every strength is covered.

Multi-millionaires who pay half or less than half of the percentage of tax the rest of us pay justify their actions by saying they pay what the law requires. Though true, the fact is they found ways within the law to beat the purpose of the law - which, in the case of taxes, is that we all pay our fair share.

Though we may have desires or bold goals, for whatever reason, most of us don't think we can achieve something beyond what we're qualified to achieve. Why, I ask, do we let reality interfere with our dreams?

Believing that your competition is stronger and better than you pushes you to better yourselves.

I know there's a difference between being successful and feeling successful. And if you ask me if I feel successful, the honest answer is 'not yet.'

Money is a short-term result that incentivizes short-term decision making.

In this age of omniconnectedness, words like 'network,' 'community' and even 'friends' no longer mean what they used to. Networks don't exist on LinkedIn. A community is not something that happens on a blog or on Twitter. And a friend is more than someone whose online status you check.

Sometimes spending time with someone who is perceived as 'successful' can make us feel less successful.

I'd rather play in the major leagues and have some bad games than play consistently good ball in the minors.

There are two kinds of experts: academic experts and practical experts. One is not better than the other, but they are very different, and each offers very different value.

If you look at the average age of a company on the Dow Jones index, it's something like 35 years or younger. In other words... success is no indication of longevity.

Leave America and you'll find that the consumers in many other countries enjoy watching advertising. Not because the products are better, but because the ads are produced to be entertaining. Sometimes they are funny. Sometimes they are dramatic. Sometimes they are just beautiful.

Entrepreneurs must be practical experts. They needn't set out to be subject matter experts in what they do; they must set out to solve a problem or pursue some cause or purpose greater than themselves.

Entrepreneurs see the thing they want or need, then try to figure out a process of how to get it. People who shouldn't be entrepreneurs see the standard process they need to go through to get the thing they want or need then decide if they want to go through that process.