ASK THE EXPERT
SIMON SINEK
P: What are some of the latest innovations you’ve seen in
today’s work place that, in your opinion, is changing how
we lead teams?
S: One of the innovations I’ve seen in today’s work place is in
how we give feedback. One of the feedbacks we get is predominantly from our boss. Often, we have an annual review from
our boss that determines our overall performance—but that’s
nonsense because all the boss is doing is reviewing us based
on what he or she can remember in the past month or two.
Having more frequent reviews, such as quarterly, means having
more time for us to improve. In one of the organizations I’ve
visited, I was very impressed by their system of peer review. As
it turns out, we are way more inspired if we find out that our
peers think we are great, even more so than when our boss
thinks we are great.
31
Ways Leaders
Can Inspire
Action in Others
Offer a purpose or cause. “Some people call this
vision. A vision has to be something specific. It’s
not a goal, it’s not a metric. It’s some sort of
contribution to the world around them that other
people can resonate with.”
Offer a safe environment. “It has to be an
environment wherein people think the
leadership cares about them. An environment
wherein people are given priority over numbers. An
environment wherein people can make mistakes and
not fear about getting fired.”
2
Let go. “At some point, a leader cannot do the
work, they have to trust their people to do the
work. A leader is not responsible of the result,
a leader is responsible of the people responsible of
the result. Unfortunately, there many of those in top
position who don’t make this transition.”
3
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latest book, Together is Better. The fully
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more of his insights on trust and purpose.
70
PULSE
■
September 2016
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 68
P: You’ve stressed the importance of trust in leadership.
How can leaders build trust among peers and team
members?
S: I’ve never heard of great leaders who would say: “Prove to
me why I should trust you with more responsibility.” What
great leaders do, like a parent, is they assess the skills of those
in their team and sometimes offer them more responsibility
even before that person thinks he or she is ready for it. That’s
one of the risks of leadership—sometimes you get it wrong.
When they fail, we sometimes had to go to them and say, “I’m
sorry, I put this all on you too soon.” Extending trust means
you treat people like human beings. Most people want to do
good work, don’t steal and are honest. This is one of the
reasons why we call them leaders, because they chose to go
first. They chose to take the risk. n
UP CLOSE AND
PERSONAL
When I look back at my personal journey, my “why”
has always been: To inspire the things that inspire
people so together we can change the world.
The last book I read cover to cover
was: Man’s Search for Meaning by
Victor E. Frankl.
My advice to my 20-year-old self is:
You don’t have to know all the
answers and if you don’t, you don’t
have to pretend like you know it.
The one app I can’t live without is:
NYT Now.
The one thing I’ve crossed off my bucket
list was: To visit the Star Wars set while
the entire crew was filming.
2016 ISPA Conference
Keynote Speaker
General Session
Thursday, Sept. 15 • 9:30 – 11 am
Book Signing with Sinek
11:15 am • Second Stage