Top 80 Simon Sinek Quotes

There are two types of claims: those based on hard numbers and those based on slippery numbers.

Spending time with the military certainly lends itself to some remarkable experiences, and I’ve been privileged to have had my share.

Leaders who fail are the ones who do it by themselves. Leaders who succeed are the ones who allow others to help them.

There is no decision that we can make that doesn’t come with some sort of balance or sacrifice.

Directions are instructions given to explain how. Direction is a vision offered to explain why.

I like stories of the classic hero, of good versus evil, the ones in which the good guys wear white and the bad guys wear black… and I love a good sword fight.

The world is a bell curve. Classroom test scores, employee performance in a company or how many people really, really like you. No matter the population you’re studying, they always fit neatly across the standard deviations of the famous bell curve.

I couldn’t understand why my productivity went down when I had deliberately made more time available to write. Then I realized it was because I wasn’t flying as much.

The cost of leadership is self-interest.

The lives we live are a bit of a straight-hair vs. curly-hair thing. We often want what we don’t have. In reality, it’s not about better or worse; it’s just perception.

One of the best paradoxes of leadership is a leader’s need to be both stubborn and open-minded. A leader must insist on sticking to the vision and stay on course to the destination. But he must be open-minded during the process.

Anyone can sell product by dropping their prices, but it does not breed loyalty.

The single best machine to measure trust is a human being. We haven’t figured out a metric that works better than our own sort of, like, ‘There’s something fishy about you.’

Some would argue that you’re as successful as the company you keep. Certainly there is a connection between our friends and who we are.

A friend is an emotional bond, just like friendship is a human experience.

A five minute call replaces the time it takes to read and reply to the original email and read and reply to their reply… or replies. And I no longer spend 20+ minutes crafting the perfect email – no need to.

I use Apple because they’re easy to understand and everybody gets it.

Babe Ruth was not afraid to strike out. And it was this fearlessness that contributed to his remarkable career.

Multi-millionaires who pay half or less than half of the percentage of tax the rest of us pay justify their actions by saying they pay what the law requires. Though true, the fact is they found ways within the law to beat the purpose of the law – which, in the case of taxes, is that we all pay our fair share.

Don’t quit. Never give up trying to build the world you can see, even if others can’t see it. Listen to your drum and your drum only. It’s the one that makes the sweetest sound.

Like a good parent can’t also be his child’s best friend, a leader with authority requires some separation from subordinates.

Great leaders don’t need to act tough. Their confidence and humility serve to underscore their toughness.

Notoriously outspoken, his sentences always punctuated with profanities, General George S. Patton was the epitome of what a leader should be like – or so he thought. Patton believed a leader should look and act tough, so he cultivated his image and his personality to match his philosophy.

When you explain to people what you’re trying to do, as opposed to just making demands or delegating tasks, you can build instant trust, even if it’s just for that short time you’re on the phone.

Believing that your competition is stronger and better than you pushes you to better yourselves.

When I was in college, my school newspaper accepted an ad from a Holocaust revisionist organization. This would have been offensive on most college campuses across the country, but I went to a school with a very large Jewish population, so the ad, as you might expect, stirred absolute outrage.

There is not a single one of us with a job that is not completely reliant in some way shape or form on others.

Money is a short-term result that incentivizes short-term decision making.

At the end of the day, humans are social animals and we are at our best when we get to do things with others who appreciate and enjoy what we enjoy. It’s what keeps us human.

The trick to balance is to not make sacrificing important things become the norm.

Nike doesn’t want to make products for everyone – they want to make products for champions.

If you look at the average age of a company on the Dow Jones index, it’s something like 35 years or younger. In other words… success is no indication of longevity.

I have been inspired by Martin Luther King and how he inspired a movement. I have learned that a cause must be organic; if it is to have an impact it must belong to those who join the movement and not those who lead it.

Great leaders are willing to sacrifice the numbers to save the people. Poor leaders sacrifice the people to save the numbers.

Offer someone the opportunity to rebuild a company or reinvent an industry as the primary incentive, and it will attract those drawn to the challenge first and the money second.

The quality of a leader cannot be judged by the answers he gives, but by the questions he asks.

Panic causes tunnel vision. Calm acceptance of danger allows us to more easily assess the situation and see the options.

If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood, sweat, and tears.

In the military, they give medals for people who are willing to sacrifice themselves so that others may survive. In business, we give bonuses to people who sacrifice others.

There is a difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak.

TiVo and other digital recording devices have confounded advertisers. The ad industry sees the technology as a threat to their product.

Every one of us has the capacity to lead.

A leader’s job is not to do the work for others, it’s to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done, and to succeed beyond what they thought possible.

Great leaders state out loud what they intend to do and in doing so, they get things done.

The irony is, the advertising industry knows everyone hates what they produce. This is why they keep looking for new ways to force people to stay tuned.

Leadership is not about the next election, it’s about the next generation.

I know there’s a difference between being successful and feeling successful. And if you ask me if I feel successful, the honest answer is ‘not yet.’

Mergers are like marriages. They are the bringing together of two individuals. If you wouldn’t marry someone for the ‘operational efficiencies’ they offer in the running of a household, then why would you combine two companies with unique cultures and identities for that reason?

A sour corporate culture can actually make an entire society unhappy. This means that a strong corporate culture can have a positive impact on a society.

Some people are born good-looking. Some have the gift of gab. And some are lucky enough to be born smarter than the rest of us. Whether we like it or not, Mother Nature does not dole these characteristics out evenly.

In this age of omniconnectedness, words like ‘network,’ ‘community’ and even ‘friends’ no longer mean what they used to. Networks don’t exist on LinkedIn. A community is not something that happens on a blog or on Twitter. And a friend is more than someone whose online status you check.

During World War II, the pilot losses were staggering. In some bombing raids, as many as 80% of the planes that left did not return.

The most basic human desire is to feel like you belong. Fitting in is important.

I don’t enjoy eating humble pie; it never tastes good. But I do appreciate it when it happens.

There are two kinds of experts: academic experts and practical experts. One is not better than the other, but they are very different, and each offers very different value.

Republicans are completely befuddled by Obama’s ‘star power’ and don’t seem to have a clear or effective strategy to compete.

If no one ever broke the rules, then we’d never advance.

Spending too much time focused on others’ strengths leaves us feeling weak. Focusing on our own strengths is what, in fact, makes us strong.

We live in times of high stress. Messages that are simple, messages that are inspiring, messages that are life-affirming, are a welcome break from our real lives.

I find, when you’re an optimist, life has a funny way of looking after you.

It’s always the organizations that are resource constrained that come up with the good ideas to win.

Leadership is absolutely about inspiring action, but it is also about guarding against mis-action.

There is a difference between giving directions and giving direction.

Humility, I have learned, must never be confused with meekness. Humility is being open to the ideas of others.

Good listeners have a huge advantage. For one, when they engage in conversation, they make people ‘feel’ heard. They ‘feel’ that someone really understands their wants, needs and desires. And for good reason; a good listener does care to understand.

I’d rather play in the major leagues and have some bad games than play consistently good ball in the minors.

Bad leaders believe that they have to project control at all times.

No matter when or where, always bring your ‘A’ game, because you never know when it will open doors for you.

More information is always better than less. When people know the reason things are happening, even if it’s bad news, they can adjust their expectations and react accordingly. Keeping people in the dark only serves to stir negative emotions.

If you can clearly articulate the dream or the goal, start.

Though there are lessons that can be learned about becoming a great leader, most exist inherently in the bellies of those who lead.

My sister made certain choices about the life she wanted. Those choices include a steady job, a husband and children. But balance and stability come at a cost. It is harder for her to be spontaneous. It is harder to just up and leave.

To operate based on conviction and belief requires an acceptance that your actions could get you fired. This is different from pig-headed bravado, and it is different from putting the company at risk.

Leadership is a way of thinking, a way of acting and, most importantly, a way of communicating.

It is only from the people I’ve had the good fortune to meet that I am learning the lessons to guide me. Baz Luhrmann, director of ‘Moulin Rouge,’ for example, has a childlike curiosity about the world. He doesn’t pretend to know all the answers – quite the opposite, in fact. He asks loads of questions of everyone.

I try to find, celebrate and teach leaders how to build platforms that will inspire others.

There’s nothing efficient about innovation.

No matter how many or how few people you have reporting to you, you must remember that as you climb higher in the ranks, your words will be taken as commands even if you’re just thinking out loud.

All the great organizations in the world, all have a sense of why that organization does what it does.

You’ll never see the president carry his own luggage, and why? Because even though we know he has luggage, it would reduce his stature if he was too much like us. We need to think of our leaders as being above us, even though they must still relate to us.