Scan barcode
A review by wordsmithreads
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't by Simon Sinek
3.0
I should rate this higher because I bookmarked so many passages from it, but I found this book a slog. I'm not usually one for self-help books, so maybe I'm just not used to the voice used, but I really disliked how the author got his points across. It seemed heavily opinionated about the military and Wall Street, without giving really constructive advice of how to be a better leader. The takeaway? Understand your employees/subordinates on a human level, don't just see them as numbers.
That said, I did bookmark a lot, like I mentioned. Here's some of what I noted:
- We cannot tell people to trust us. We cannot instruct people to come up with big ideas. And we certainly can't demand that people cooperate.
- Leaders want to feel safe too. No matter what place we occupy in the pecking order, every single one of us wants to feel like we are valued by the others in the group.
- So we tell ourselves, what we have will have to do.
- Leaders have overall lower stress levels than those who work for them.
- The more we give of ourselves to see others succeed, the greater our value to the group and the more respect they offer us. ... At least that's how it's supposed to work.
- As social animals, we feel stress when we feel unsupported.
- There are people with authority who are not leaders and there are people at the bottom rungs of an organization who most certainly are leaders.
- We don't just trust people to obey the rules, we also trust that they know when to break them.
- "You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - Goethe
- Performance can go up or down; the strength of a culture is the only thing we can truly rely on
- Give authority to those closest to the information, and have them solidify behind the leader's vision.
- "I can't delegate my legal responsibilities/my relationships/my knowledge. Everything else I can ask others to take responsibility for." - Captain Marquet
- A leader's legacy is only as strong as the foundation they leave behind that allows others to continue to advance the organization in their name.
Quotes that are more interesting for the novel I'm writing:
- In other words, we can fall asleep at night confident that someone else will watch for danger.
- In a Marine platoon of 40 people, it's "our" lieutenant. The more distant and less seen senior officer is "the" colonel.
- "The goal of a leader is to give no orders." - Captain Marquet
Things I learned:
- "Mass layoffs" weren't a thing until Reagan started in his presidency + set the precedent forever (pg 92)
- That 65% of us have the capacity to kill someone (Milgram, pg 103)
- The 150 social circle number (the number of people you would not feel embarrassed about joining uninvited for a drink)
That said, I did bookmark a lot, like I mentioned. Here's some of what I noted:
- We cannot tell people to trust us. We cannot instruct people to come up with big ideas. And we certainly can't demand that people cooperate.
- Leaders want to feel safe too. No matter what place we occupy in the pecking order, every single one of us wants to feel like we are valued by the others in the group.
- So we tell ourselves, what we have will have to do.
- Leaders have overall lower stress levels than those who work for them.
- The more we give of ourselves to see others succeed, the greater our value to the group and the more respect they offer us. ... At least that's how it's supposed to work.
- As social animals, we feel stress when we feel unsupported.
- There are people with authority who are not leaders and there are people at the bottom rungs of an organization who most certainly are leaders.
- We don't just trust people to obey the rules, we also trust that they know when to break them.
- "You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - Goethe
- Performance can go up or down; the strength of a culture is the only thing we can truly rely on
- Give authority to those closest to the information, and have them solidify behind the leader's vision.
- "I can't delegate my legal responsibilities/my relationships/my knowledge. Everything else I can ask others to take responsibility for." - Captain Marquet
- A leader's legacy is only as strong as the foundation they leave behind that allows others to continue to advance the organization in their name.
Quotes that are more interesting for the novel I'm writing:
- In other words, we can fall asleep at night confident that someone else will watch for danger.
- In a Marine platoon of 40 people, it's "our" lieutenant. The more distant and less seen senior officer is "the" colonel.
- "The goal of a leader is to give no orders." - Captain Marquet
Things I learned:
- "Mass layoffs" weren't a thing until Reagan started in his presidency + set the precedent forever (pg 92)
- That 65% of us have the capacity to kill someone (Milgram, pg 103)
- The 150 social circle number (the number of people you would not feel embarrassed about joining uninvited for a drink)