Simon Sinek Unfiltered: The Trap Leaders Must Avoid
We have stupidity, we have insecurity, we have ego. We have all of these things, and I have them too, right? We have all the same issues as every other company on the planet. The difference is, is how we address those issues when we have them. (bright music) Simon, hey, man, it is a great honor to have you on the podcast. Nice to be here, thanks for having me.
I’ve been learning from you for years, and so my goal is to ask you at least two or three questions no one’s ever asked you before and try to draw some untapped brilliance out of you as we go. I look forward to it. I mean, I’ve heard a lot of questions over the years. Yeah, I may not succeed, but I’m gonna try. I’ll start with a relatively easy one before I throw you some curve balls.
But you’re sincerely one of the top voices on leadership alive today, which is amazing. But you didn’t probably start out confident in your leadership. Was there a time, Simon, like somewhere early on in your life, maybe as a kid or a young adult, that you recognized perhaps that you had some leadership gifts? I don’t think I ever recognized that there were leadership gifts.
I mean, I’ll tell you a story from junior high school. So when I was in junior high school, middle school, my best friend was Adam. And Adam and I had a fight one day, as little kids do. And when I got on the bus the next day to go to school, nobody would sit next to me ’cause Adam told ’em not to sit next to me, he was the leader of our gang. He was the leader of the pack.
And I remember the distinct feeling that someone else was responsible for my happiness and my friendships around me, one person. And I had to make him happy, otherwise I had no friends the next day. And it sort of, as a little kid, I was like, that’s ridiculous. And it was a pretty young age I started experimenting with, like, being my own self.
