To Carl Dunstan (mate - I hope you're reading this again. You were one of the guys who said they missed it, so this is for you). I take great pleasure in introducing my friend Carl to people as 'James Bond's physiotherapist' because he is (broken patient confidence) but he introduced me to this book and we share thoughts and ideas about all this philosophical claptrap that I write about.
This book has elevated its way right into the very upper echelons of books that I have ever read. Most people that would read this blog would have seen Simon Sinek's TED talk about the 'why' of business. If you haven't you can see it here.
He has written two books - one on the why and this one on leadership. But, as with all great books by guys like him or Malcolm Gladwell or Dan Pink, it's about so much more than just 'leadership' and I'm going to say that everybody who visits this blog should read this book. I did it as an audiobook read by Sinek himself and it lends itself so well to that format that I would suggest you do that instead of reading it.
The premise of the book is about leadership but Sinek is an anthropologist - a true scientist who examines it from an anthropological background and further blogs will explain what I've learned from that book in relation to the anthropology and the physiology. He references a lot the US Marines as an example of a leadership model and of course leadership has become very cool and trendy in the last five years - it's taught on MBAs at Universities and written about a lot. I have watched people talk about it, I've read what people have written about it and I've watched people as an example to see how they do it. In the end it probably boils down to one word - integrity.
Sinek examines the US political system (back in 2013 ironically) he examines companies, he examines the military and he examines individuals, but one of the true pieces of genius in the book is his description of the circle of safety. If you find yourself privileged enough to be in a position of seniority and leadership and your goal then your role is to provide a circle of safety for those for whom you are responsible. The responsibility for the people who are given the circle of safety is to extend the circle of safety to you. Put yourself forward into danger first, eat last and create a group of people who understand that you will protect them if they protect you. This is the essence of the tribe and the true essence of leadership.
At the end of the book he touches on the stuff that has now gone viral all over the internet on the entitlement of millennials and Generation Y and how the addiction to social media and interruption is causing enormous future damage. Not the first person to discuss this but one of the best people to put it down into words. This is the true warning from the future of the book and perhaps one of the most important things we have to apply our leadership skills to.
The link to the book is here. I use Audible to listen to the book but unfortunately it's owned by Amazon! A credible alternative would be much appreciated if anyone knows one. Please reply on email and let me know.
Blog Post Number - 1192
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