Top 548 Quotes & Sayings by Simon Sinek

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

There's nothing efficient about innovation.

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

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

When we can communicate from the inside out, we're talking directly to the part of the brain that controls behavior, and then we allow people to rationalize it with the tangible things we say and do. This is where gut decisions come from.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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?

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.

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

The cost of leadership is self-interest.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

There is a difference between vulnerability and telling people everything about yourself. Vulnerability is a feeling. Telling everyone about yourself is just facts and details.

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

There is a difference between giving directions and giving direction.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.'

I couldn't understand why my productivity went down when I had deliberately made more time available to write. Then I realized it was because I wasn't flying as much.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

If no one ever broke the rules, then we'd never advance.

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

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