Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't

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The importance of social connections: The author highlights the importance of social connections in creating a culture of trust, and provides examples of how organizations that foster strong social bonds between employees are more successful and innovative.

Meh. Within this book, Sinek summaries my own experience reading his book: "This is no soapbox rambling. It is just biology." Actually, it is soapbox rambling. Abstraction and Dehumanization: how global systems, virtual interactions and management via numbers/metrics can be dangerous and lead to irresponsible or even monstrous acts. Destructive Abundance: how humans respond to scarcity vs surplus, and why/how leaders have become so blinded by commercial interest that they’ve forgotten who they’re supposed to serve. If we want those who are more engaged in working with inspiration, we need to focus less on ourselves and more on creating the working environment that fosters this prosperity. ARE YOU ADDICTED? A spark is something quite small and, by itself, not very powerful. But a spark has the ability to ignite. An idea is like a spark; alone it is just a set of words, but it too can ignite. A great idea can inspire others to dream bigger. Let us all work together to ignite something greater than ourselves.I would've like to read more about detailing his anecdotes rather than injecting his opinions and connections as to why one way was wrong and one way was right. While certainly some truth to his feelings about our current society, many of his parts seemed narrow-minded and myopic. For example, he bashes baby boomers for acting in their own self-interest. It was their selfish actions, he claims, that lead to a greater number of severe economic recessions. Sinek sees the baby boomers' selfishness as the catalyst to this downfall in societal morality. But what about what they've created over that time? Things like the internet and the modern day computer. He leaves that out. Children are better off having a parent who works into the night in a job they love than a parent who works shorter hours but comes home unhappy.” You cannot let this happen in your company! That’s why the work environment is everything. If it encourages and empowers people, they stay in their jobs not to survive, but to thrive. We do not have the power to change others, but we can change the environment where they are inserted.

Leadership is not about being in charge, it’s about taking care of those in your charge. Anyone can learn to be a great leader—it’s a practice and the first requirement is you have to want to be one.Integrity matters. As long as leaders adhere to a set of values for the company, its members will do the same. Additionally, effective leaders must bond with others. This includes employees, customers, colleagues, and even rivals. By maintaining real connections, leaders can stay honest and focused on the needs of others. This bonding is critical to keeping the trust of the group. Second, that team creation is the most important thing of leadership. Recruiting and working with fantastically talented people means you'll be able to spend more time on things that matter. What ever the reason. British intellectuals demonstrate a kind of ease when referring to evolution where as Americans tend to feel at least a little self conscious about dropping the E bomb in public. But the endorphins disguise exhaustion and physical pain and can fool us mentally so that we can go further, even after significant physical efforts. Do you know when you finish an exercise feeling good, and the next day the whole body hurts?

In the end, it's Sinek's humanistic values (yet another highly British trait) that really shine through and make the message literally irresistible. Leadership is not a rank, it is a responsibility. Leadership is not about being in charge, it is about taking care of those in your charge. One of the key things I took from this is how leaders have to essentially care for the people in their ranks the same way a parent cares for their children. We would have a lot less turn over and decrease expenses if instead of dismissing people who don't meet expectations we instead think of how we can help them grow into who we need them to be. The book has an audience and it is anyone in place to be a leader. I think my ex-boss could use this book very much. Once again, for me it all sounded like natural things to do but looking around me, it seems that most of the actual “leaders” don’t do these stuff.With examples of successful pro-active steps taken to improve working environments, this book is an excellent read to evaluate your action and reaction in the workplace no matter your role. Easy to read and written without jargon, pomp, and filler.