Business Book Review: Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
Leaders Eat Last should be required reading for everyone who calls themselves a manager. To help them actually be leaders.
My Rating: ★★★★★
Length: 363 pages
Publisher: Portfolio
Released: 2014
Key Takeaways for Personal Branding
Leaders Eat Last is yet another book in which Sinek champions what should be obvious to most leaders. Yet, so often isn’t. Those entrusted with the leadership position are responsible for creating a fulfilling, trusting and safe environment for their team.
Through his conversations with Marines, Sinek discovered that leaders eat last. Those most junior went first. This reflected a much more important ideology in the battlefield. Leaders must sacrifice their own comfort and survival to ensure the safety of their team.
Circle of Safety
The safety that humans’ tribal instinct is wired to seek is what Sinek calls a ‘Circle of Safety’. And it’s the leader’s purpose to create a cooperative and trusting Circle of Safety. It’s the circle that protects the ‘tribe’ from external forces.
The Power of Serotonin and Oxytocin
No stone is left unturned in Sinek’s discussion of serotonin and oxytocin. Unlike ‘selfish chemicals’ such as dopamine and endorphins, you are also wired for the ‘social’ chemicals serotonin and oxytocin. Sinek proposes they are the backbone of the Circle of Safety. They encourage trust, bonding and friendship.
And, when you do things that promote them, you feel a sense of security, fulfilment and belonging. It is because of oxytocin in particular that we have empathy. While dopamine promotes instant gratification, oxytocin is long-lasting. The more time we spend with someone, for example, the more we are willing to be vulnerable with them.
Acts of service, generosity and physical contact release oxytocin. This is why even in business, the handshake becomes so powerful.
Dunbar’s Number
Robin Dunbar, an anthropologist and professor at Oxford University, concluded people cannot maintain more than 150 close relationships. It reflects the earliest homo sapiens who lived in tribes of no more than approximately 100-150 people. And tribes and communities across the globe throughout history.
Dunbar’s number is why Sinek says leaders must trust their middle managers. With only so many hours in a day, deep bonds can only form with so many people.
Favourite Quotes
Great leaders truly care about those they are privileged to lead and understand that the true cost of the leadership privilege comes at the expense of self-interest.
Every single employee is someone’s son or someone’s daughter. Like a parent, a leader of a company is responsible for their precious lives.
As employees or members of the group, we need the courage to take care of each other when our leaders don’t. And in doing so, we become the leaders we wish we had.
Weak leaders are the ones who extend the benefits of the Circle of Safety only to their fellow senior executives and a chosen few others. They look out for each other, but they do not offer the same considerations to those outside their “inner circle.”
A corporate vision statement must be something we can see in our mind’s eye. That’s why it’s called a “vision”.
Oxytocin is most people’s favorite chemical. It’s the feeling of friendship, love or deep trust.
Sinek speaks like the leader everyone wishes they had. Reflective of his mission of helping create a world in which everyone feels inspired to go to work. A place where you can feel trusted and safe.
Leaders Eat Last should be compulsory reading for anyone ever entrusted to lead - anyone ever responsible for creating a feeling of safety for another human being.
Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek: Available on Amazon.
