By Simon Sinek
Book's Rating-4.5/5
Understanding the meaning of the book This book focuses on the leadership qualities and how some teams pull together and others don't. Absolutely a must read for the people looking for improvement in their teams and how to bring the team together to hit the goal or how to develop the quality of leadership.
Why we have leaders Simon explains that since the stone age their have been leaders like a tribe or a basketball team or a particular organization. Now what's the role of the leader? A leader is the one who is responsible for the path the followers follow towards the dead end or the peak point. People needs direction and a person on whom they can believe and just do what the leaders tell them to do. Leaders are the one's who enjoy the perks of being at the topmost point and protect the people during the time of jeopardy or peril. Leaders are the true reason why a team fall apart or make it to the top. Real leaders are not the one's who aim for leadership just to enjoy the perks but to think about people first. The rule is ''unless someone is willing to make personal sacrifices for the good of others to earn their place in the hierarchy, they aren't really alpha material or the alpha leaders''. It is okay for leaders to enjoy all the perks afforded to them but they must be willing to give up those perks when it matters. Real leaders look for the people who are on the right of them and to the left of them, they are always ready to sacrifice their comfort for the people even if they disagree with us i.e without any biasness. Building trust requires time and people will only believe the person who looks after them just like their child or family member.
The chemicals that holds us together or breaks us together Simon talks about the various chemical in our human body which play an important role for working in groups. E.D.S.O E- Endorphins. This chemical strongly believes only in pain. It feels good when we are in pain and we enjoy the very moment when we push through our pains. These chemicals take over our body when you actual goal is to survive through the problems and therefore we push our limits very hard. D- Dopamine. It gets released when we get things done or when we get satisfied i.e when you complete things and make progress. This chemical purely focuses on instant gratification and instead of caring about the long term goals you look for small cravings that degrades your path to long term goals. The more big the goal more big is the the dopamine hit and more is the effort required to reach till that point. S- Serotonin. Serotonin is the feeling of pride. It is feeling we get when we perceive that others like or respect us. It's a feeling we get for our good deeds and it strengthens the bond between people more diversely and strongly. Serotonin is working to encourage us for whom we are directly responsible. Serotonin is the chemical for building alpha leaders of the group and those leaders are the most trustworthy. O- Oxytocin. It is the chemical of love and friendship. Oxytocin is the chemical responsible for building trust and makes us more social. This chemical is really important while believing in a leader, and the trust leaders have on their employees. It's just like believing on your parents for a child that they will always have our back. The only way we can develop this chemical is by spending more time with the person and understanding their thinking and then having full faith on them. Out of these chemicals Endorphins and Dopamine are selfish chemicals. Whereas Serotonin and Oxytocin are selfless chemicals. Endorphins and Dopamine focuses on our own growth and satisfaction but Serotonin and Oxytocin focuses on others happiness and developing trust which is the base for any organization.
The circle of safety As Simon explains that the world is full of danger and different types of unethical environment the thing called safety arises in the minds of people. In the modern world the corporate people are afraid of the unpredictable nature of the stock market or a particular technology which is capable of replacing humans or a competitor which can threaten your business. Now also consider the inside threats which can divide the people's ethics and make tremendous damage to the organization itself. Here the circle of safety comes into the picture. When the leaders assure the people of the organization about their safety in any particular condition there is a lot more probability that the team will hold up till the end and find it's way out of the storm. In this situation the internal threats refers to the fear of getting fired or facing a due in your payment. When such kind of risk exist in the people's mindset they stop their innovations and start to make themselves safe rather than thinking about the whole team. The leaders let only the trusted members in the circle of safety even excluding your qualification. The people who aren't trustworthy are just like an infection they are gonna spread through out the whole team and will cause the team to fall. The leaders should include the most legitimate people in their group instead of following biasness towards the senior members or their friends or themselves. When the circle of safety is strong or the people feel safe they naturally will cooperate and trust each other.
Things that hinder the people in an organization The work environment plays an important role in making team work happen leniently. Because when the working environment is really stressing the whole working staff starts to feel the intense worries that might put them in some sort of danger. When the working environment is not satisfied the cooperation among the people declines as well as people try to make them safe firstly and then the team. The great team members should know when and why to break the rules to save the team from uncertain consequences. Rules are made to avoid the dangers but an experienced workman know when to violate them without worrying about their salaries or possession. We trust people not the technology or the rules created. The responsibility of a leader is to provide the cover of safety from the dangers above the people. Their should be end to end correspondence between the producers and the people. As new concepts and modernization is making the way of the people's presence and replacing with machines and AI technology there is a lot of irrelevant problem going with people due to this physical separation from the human cause.
Conclusion As Simon always says ''Leadership is not a license to do less, it is a responsibility to do more''. Great leadership requires time and a great energy and most probably the connection between the people and the leader, and that's what this book is all about. https://youtu.be/lmyZMtPVodo Watch the ted talk by Simon Sinek.
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