Simon Sinek's Leaders Eat Last is an interestingly crucial literary piece, suitable for employees, employers, and prospective leaders. The content therein is pivotal in shaping an individual's mind to get better suited for organizational empowerment and overall success. The title itself pretty much summarizes the general intent of the book as a whole. As a good leader, a better individual, a revered person that others look up to, it is of great importance to put other’s interests first. By so doing, what it means is that the needs and interests of one’s subordinates precede own selfish gains (Sinek, 2014).
The apparent reaction from any reader of such a book would be to marvel at the many lessons and insightful things that can be borrowed and replicated in real life. Any other reactions fall short of the minimum threshold. Leaders eat last is a book too good to receive anything but praise and accolade. The lessons learned help both current and prospective leaders understand just how important the well-being of an organization is with regards to matters growth and expansion. In his book, human leadership helps protect the organization from internal rivalries that might otherwise shatter a culture. Where people trust each other and cooperate, the pulling together effect helps the organization thrive (Sinek, 2014).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Additionally, as an organizational behaviorist, there are at least three 'Big ideas’ or lessons to borrow and learn from the book. These ideas range from intrapersonal to interpersonal relations. They include, but not limited to, creating a circle of safety, understanding our happy chemicals,\ and paying specific and close attention to autonomy. (Kalman, 2015) Describes leadership as not just being in authority, but rather those selfless figures who relinquish their best interest to see those they lead better themselves. As a result, it is of great concern to delve deeper and better understand the lessons one can learn from Sinek's 'Leaders Eat Last,’ and the specific implications of each to an organization.
Sinek describes The “Circle of Safety” as an environment, a setting, and an anthropological concept in which human’s ability to survive and thrive, as social beings, depends on the ability to trust and cooperate. In an organizational setting, one will not feel the need to withhold mind-blowing and game-changing ideas because of fear that another might, for their selfish gains, steal the idea and take the credit. In a nutshell, an employee will not feel that his or her worth is dependent on their ranking among peers. The circle of safety outlines the importance of trust and emotional attachments in an organization. It is, perhaps, the reason why employees quit or change jobs form one organization to another all because of a lack of loyalty to the organization, spearheaded by leaders who offer no sense of belonging or even just a credible reason to stay, a goal that surpasses materialism like money and benefits. The circle of safety means everyone can confide in the other without fear of reprimand. Trust is the glue that binds people together to ensure the safety circle gets strengthened. When one feels that things other than own selfish gains drive another person in the organization, communications flow, naturally. As an eventuality, trust gets earned thanks to contact and the demonstration that indeed either party shares the same beliefs and values alike. (Gutierrez, 2016).
Taking the example of a highly competitive work environment, employees can feel insecure, worries about them feeling like they are not performing enough might lead them to stress. In turn, less productivity follows and more fears about job redundancy and getting laid off creep in. All these are poisonous enough in an organization. A good leader steps up in such scenarios, showing empathy to subordinates, asking about their problems, how their day is or was and their plans. In essence, a good leader gets involved in the life of his/her subordinates, treating them with respect and care. A simple remembrance of what an assistant tells a superior goes a long way in showing that you are listening, you care, and that his how trust gets fostered, eventually the circle of safety gets fortified in the organization. As a result, threats subordinates feel inside groups is reduced, freeing them up to devotedly focus on protecting the organization rather than themselves from the constant dangers outside, in addition to seizing the significant opportunities , what such means is that a big circle of safety translates to relative ease and comfort in naturally sharing ideas, intelligence and the ever-lurking burdens of (Moya, n.d. ).
Additionally, a lesson learned from Sinek is that it is of utter importance to understand how the various happiness-related chemicals work. Getting to know one's happy chemicals is akin to self-awareness. Such knowledge helps in determining exactly how to behave in multiple instances and situations that come by in the workplace. The four compounds worth understanding are endorphin (responsible for pain-masking), dopamine (tasked with the responsibility to help achieve goals), serotonin (characteristic of leadership) and Oxytocin (the love chemical). These chemicals help us not only get things done but also for socialization and cooperation. Serotonin and Oxytocin are most applicable for scenarios requiring strengthening of social bonds, thereby ensuring that, in an organization, employees and their leaders alike, can work together to realize the organizational goals through cooperation. As a society or business, the establishment of these new set of values and norms, the chemicals, the dopamine-driven performance is individually rewarding at the expense of serotonin and oxytocin balancing effects that are non-individually rewarding; reward us for working together, cooperating, for building bonds of both trust and loyalty (Sinek, 2014).
Similarly, as an example, when there is a weak circle of safety, one ends up investing time and energy to guard oneself against prevalent organizational dangers like politics, and as such happens, oxytocin release is inhibited, thereby making one more selfish, paying little or no attention and concern to the organization or colleague. On the other hand, when a leader, for instance, resolves to put his or her people before their numbers, making the people actually feel a sense of trust for each other, the oxytocin release is catapulted leading to a reverse in many of the adverse effects of operating in a high-stress environment among them being stress reduction and achievement of a work-life balance. (Moya, n.d. ).
Autonomy is another equally important lesson to learn from the text. In an organization devoid of independence, stress and emotional strain, more often than not, follows. A bossy and authoritarian approach to work not only increases the distance between employees and their employers but also stifles productivity. A happy subordinate equals a happy leader because of the higher levels of dedication, productivity and job satisfaction. Any leader needs to give subordinates more control of the tasks assigned because such control enables workflow smoothly and with relative ease, since there is enough freedom to tackle the task at hand exhaustively, however, the employee deems fit to provide the desired results are eventually achieved and professionalism upheld. To reap maximum benefits from your subordinates, give employees more control (Sinek, 2014 ).
In conclusion, it is pivotal for leaders to value their subordinates by ensuring they take time to get involved in their lives. As a leader, one should show empathy, listen to what subordinates say, give them freedom at work and ensure they build a circle of safety. All these help an organization stand out and grow further.
References
Gutierrez, K. (2016). 5 Inspiring Lessons In Leadership From Simon Sinek [Blog]. Retrieved from https://www.manageinbound.com/blog/lessons-in-leadership
Kalman, F. (2015). Why 'Leaders Eat Last'. Talent Management .
Moya, B. Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together, and Others Don't – by Simon Sinek [Blog]. Retrieved from https://borjamoya.com/book/leaders-eat-last/
Sinek, S. (2014). LEADERS EAT LAST: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't . New York: PORTFOLIO/PENGUIN .
