Top 548 Quotes & Sayings by Simon Sinek - Page 9

Good leadership is hard to measure on a daily basis which is why so many default to doing what's easy to measure instead.

Work hard to seem infallible and others will work to find our flaws. Admit our shortcomings and others will work to help us be infallible.

Systems and processes are essential to keep the crusade going, but they should not replace the crusade.

The passion to change the world for the better is a more powerful force than defense to keep it the same.

Leadership is not a rank, it's a choice.

Leadership is not a rank or a position, it is a choice - a choice to look after the person to the left of us & the person to the right of us.

Great communicators don't just hear the words. Great communicators hear the meaning behind the words

Rule books tell people what to do. Frameworks guide people how to act. Rule books insist on discipline. Frameworks allow for creativity.

We pursue exercise even though empirically we see no benefit from the energy we're spending and we're hurting. So empirically we should quit. The why is exactly the same thing. You persist even though there are some short-term stresses and even though there is some uncertainty.

Disney became hated. It became one of the evil corporations. It used to be loved. They couldn't hold onto talent; they couldn't attract talent. Some of their products did badly. The Californialand project was a $5 billion waste of money. They couldn't make it work. The magic had gone, no pun intended.

Organizations should say and do the things they ACTUALLY believe.

Usually what happens is somebody grabs me and they always pull me off to the side. Nobody ever does it publically. They say, "I didn't want to be here." Or, "I don't usually like people like you." Or, "I didn't believe the things you actually talked about would work. I'm here to tell you that you converted me." That happens a lot.

Disney is one of the best hotel companies in the world. Yet they have never and will never open a casino on the Vegas strip.

A group of followers has strength because of its numbers. A following has power because of its beliefs.

What I understand about this concept of why is that it functions exactly the same way as parenting or exercise or any of these things we claim to invest in.

The responsibility of leadership is not taken, it is given. Only when others choose to follow us can we truly lead.

I don't hire any companies or ask any of my friends to write reviews for me on Amazon when I have a book come out so they can drive up my ratings on Amazon. I don't have a publicist.

I don't have to convince everybody in the room. I just need a critical mass of the people in the room.

Too many people write books because they want to be a New York Times best-seller. They want the glory and the fame.

It is a luxury to put our interests first. It is an honor to put the interests of others before our own.

The ones who show up to take, they show up and say, "Hi. My name is Steve. I'm an expert in this and I've studied this and I've worked with these clients." On every single power point presentation, it has their email, their Twitter handle and their Facebook account, so you can follow them. At the end, they tell you, "Please follow me." When you ask them a question, they say, "Well, I could tell you the answer, but you should really just read my book."

What's important to me is that I put messages out, whether it's a TED talk, whether it's a book.

If you're interested in a book that will steadily grow and sell for a very long time, I promise you I will give you that.

I would never find myself or unlikely to find myself in a room where I have a skeptic who brought me in. But I very often am in a situation somebody who's there who didn't invite me was a skeptic. That happens all the time.

People have accused me of only working with good companies. No I don't. I work with some very dysfunctional companies or unbelievably dysfunctional organizations. The people that bring me in know what they're doing won't work for the future. They know they want to change and they want to change for the right reasons. They believe what I believe and that's why they called me.

Trust is maintained when values and beliefs are actively managed. If companies do not actively work to keep clarity, discipline and consistency in balance, then trust starts to break down.

If you go to the gym and you come home and look into the mirror, you'll see nothing. If you go the next day and you come home, you will see nothing. In fact sometimes you're in pain.

It's better to do it than to talk about how perfect it could be.

The true value of networking doesn't come from how many people we can meet but rather how many people we can introduce to others.

Instead of showing up to let everyone know how great we are, show up to find out how great everyone else is.

Our courage comes from the courage of others.

I'm pretty confident the why works now. When it first began, somebody said to me: "Will this work in big business?" I said, "I don't know. Let's try." Somebody said will this work in entrepreneurs, relationships or government and military. I said, "I don't know. Let's try." I kept applying the scientific method. I had a theory. I kept applying that theory, looking for opportunities to fail and it kept working.

Too many people write books as a calling card.

Leadership is not communicating what we need. Leadership is communicating what we can contribute.

If you're looking for a book that will spike in sales and then go away and then spike again when it comes out in paperback, your normal model, I definitely won't give you that.

I never imagined I'd be working with government, or military or politicians or big companies. None of this stuff I'm doing was on any business plan anywhere ever.

Nobody writes a book to get rich. It's like speaking.

A company and leaders of the company have the responsibility of the precious lives of all the human beings that work there.

I've been dogmatic to use myself as a case study.

I put messages out there that start with why and they talk about what I believe. They go on to demonstrate and give examples. If it resonates with others, those with whom it resonates will share it with their friends and say, "This inspired me. You should watch it. You should read this."

When you show up to speak publically, you have to show up to give. You always know the ones who do and the ones who don't.

My job is to preach and preach and preach.

People who believe I'm an idiot don't hire me and they don't call.

When we have a clear sense of our destination, we can be flexible in the route we take to reach it.

We must be clear about where we’re going if we want anyone to help us get there.

Unhealthy cultures create addiction. Healthy cultures create social bonds.

I go into every meeting, into every room and for every speech understanding the standard deviation, the Bell Curve. I know there are about 10-15 percent of people in the room, who say, "I've been trying to say this for years. Finally. I agree. Yes, yes, yes." I know there are about 15 percent of the people in the room who think I'm an idiot, who think I don't know what I'm talking about, who think I'm naive or I have oversimplified everything. The majority who are open to the ideal.

Of course there are people out there who are helping others find their why. Some are doing a really great job and some are doing a not so great job. I love the fact there are people out there, and consultants out there doing that.

You have to have a patience for college.

We call them leaders because they go first, because they take the risk before anybody else does, because they will choose to sacrifice so their people will be safe and protected.

I was a nobody when I met with the publisher. Nobody knew who I was. I was doing some speaking for entrepreneurs. I did little groups. I had no following.

I'm interested in the innovator and the early adopter.

We think that we all have to like each other before we trust each other and that necessarily is not the case.

I cannot tell you how long it takes for your exercise to work. If you haven't seen any results in a year or six months you're doing something wrong.

You have to have a patience for exercise.

Stress and anxiety at work have less to do with the work we do and more to do with weak management and leadership.

Leaders don't convince people to follow them. Leaders walk forward alone and those who want to go down their path decide to follow.

I was always curious why certain marketing worked and some marketing did not.

I was never a writer.

What I thought I developed all of those years ago was a pattern to understand communication.