September 2023 Leadership Lessons

September 2023

VIDEO OF THE MONTH: Your Friends Can Reveal Your WHY with Simon Sinek

One of the quickest ways to start your WHY journey is having a conversation with a friend. Try it out!

Simon is an unshakable optimist. He believes in a bright future and our ability to build it together.

Described as “a visionary thinker with a rare intellect,” Simon has devoted his professional life to help advance a vision of the world that does not yet exist; a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single morning inspired, feel safe wherever they are and end the day fulfilled by the work that they do.

Simon is the author of multiple best-selling books including Start With Why, Leaders Eat Last, Together is Better, and The Infinite Game.

ARTICLE OF THE MONTH:

The Awesome Responsibility of Leadership: An Interview With Simon Sinek by David Hassell

Simon Sinek is a world renowned speaker and the author of two books: the global best seller, Start With WHY: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action and his newest best seller, Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t. Simon has devoted his life to sharing his thinking in order to help other leaders and organizations inspire action.

Simon is also a trusted advisor who is helping us create the space for people to become their greatest selves, and inspire others to do the same by improving internal communication and performance management. In our second interview, Simon discusses how leaders are responsible for putting their interests aside so that others will feel safe and find fulfillment.

The WHY Behind Simon Sinek

Simon’s WHY is to inspire people to do what inspires them, so together we can change our world. He speaks, writes, teaches, advises, and creates products to spread that message.

To continue reading, click here.

"Start with WHY" by Simon Sinek - Book Reviewed by TLP Cohort #8 Member

To say I was excited reading this book would not be accurate. This book has a crucial leadership lesson for anyone looking to maybe reignite their own personal “fire” and it wasn’t until I finished the book that it became clear that I am actively engaged in the “WHY” and leadership principles in my day-to- day.

I think that this book has a great message in the beginning and the end. The middle of the book was rather dry and seemed to drag on. However, I understand the need for the examples provided throughout the book. Simon spent a lot of time using the Apple company as an example and I felt the message could have been summarized in a more condensed version.

While this was not a thrilling book, it did provide a lot of clarity on how we can get to the core of individuals to help everyone find their why. The three key concepts of the book are the WHAT, HOW, and WHY of our lives. This book points out that individuals need to find out their “WHY” in order to become successful. You will essentially just be wandering through life until you find this.

The “WHAT” is my actual job. A lot of people do the same or similar job, but what sets me apart from them?

The “HOW” is the ability to explain how to do my job. Again, many people are able to do this, but this does not create separation amongst leaders.

The “WHY” is your inspiration. Once you can discover this, everything else becomes much easier. If you hate your job, you haven’t found your “WHY”. Having your “WHY” become clear, means that things that were once challenging become that much easier. Work, relationships, and being a successful leader becomes much easier. Having clarity of this and creating trust amongst others is the only way to become a true leader because this inspires others rather than manipulating or forcing your authority over someone.