Simon Sinek

Simon Sinek believes in a bright future and our ability to build it together. Described as “a visionary thinker with a rare intellect,” Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people. With a bold goal to help build a world in which the vast majority of people go home every day feeling fulfilled by their work, Sinek is leading a movement to inspire people to do the things that inspire them. 

A trained ethnographer and author of Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, Sinek has held a life-long curiosity for why people and organizations do the things they do.

Fascinated by the leaders and companies that make the greatest impact in the world, Sinek has discovered some remarkable patterns of how they think, act and communicate. He has devoted his life to sharing his observations in order to help leaders and organizations inspire action. 

Sinek is best known for discovering his theory of the "Golden Circle," a naturally occurring pattern grounded in the biology of human decision making, which explains why we are inspired by some people, leaders, messages, and organizations over others.

Sinek’s unconventional and innovative views on business and leadership have attracted international attention and have earned him invitations to meet with leaders and organizations in a wide array of industries including Microsoft, Dell, Intel, Chanel, the United States Military, Members of the United States Congress, the Ambassadors of Bahrain and Iraq, multiple government agencies and entrepreneurs. Sinek has also had the honour of presenting his ideas at the United Nations, to the senior leadership of the United States Air Force and to the senior leaders of NASA. 

Sinek speaks around the globe and has commented for local and national press, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, FastCompany, CMO Magazine, NPR and BusinessWeek. Sinek is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, writes his own blog, simonsinek.com, and makes regular guest appearances on MSNBC’s Your Business, among others. The talk he gave at his first TEDx event, “How Great Leaders Inspire” is one of the most shared TED Talks on TED.com. 

Sinek is an adjunct staff member of the RAND Corporation, one of the most highly regarded think tanks in the world, where he advises on matters of military innovation and planning. He is also active in the arts and not-for-profit world, working with the Education for Employment Foundation to help create opportunities for young men and women in the Middle East.

When not in hotels, he lives in New York where he teaches graduate-level strategic communications at Columbia University. 

Simon Sinek's Blog Entries:

You are Allowed

The Night the Lighthouse Went Out

• Start With Why

  Why are some organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?
  
  Any organization can explain what it does; some can even explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate WHY they do it.
  
  Starting with WHY works in big business and small business, in the nonprofit world and in politics. Those who start with WHY, those who have a clear vision as to why they are doing what they do, inspire others. The people that follow them don't do so because they have to, they do so because they want to.
  
  Drawing on a wide range of real-life stories, Sinek weaves together a clear vision of what it truly takes to articulate your WHY and how to use that as a starting off point to inspire others and achieve success.
  
  Simon Sinek shows audiences:

  ·That it doesn't matter what you do, it matters why you do it
  ·How to be open to new ideas and look at old ideas through a new lens
  ·To understand that employees are the backbone of any business and the key to success
  ·Why some organizations are more innovative, more profitable, command greater loyalties from customers and employees alike and are able to repeat their success over and over (and how you can, too)
  

   

• A quick note to say thank you for a powerful session yesterday. I feel like you gave me a language for something that I have been exploring and wrestling with for a long time as a marketer here – so thank you for the personal impact you have had on me. I also got incredible feedback from many participants about how inspired they are - even the video staff and bartender commented to me how powerful the session was! There seems to be a hunger for Why everywhere.

  Microsoft

• Thank you for taking the time to enlighten the Air Force's newest senior leaders. Your candid perspective and clear insight will foster their success for many years and made this year's program an outstanding success. The feedback we received from the group was unanimous—having you there was invaluable and memorable for each of them. Please accept my sincere appreciation for your contribution to this important forum.

  General Norton A. Schwartz, Chief of Staff United States Air Force

• I really don't know where to start other than saying thank you! When I got home the night you gave your amazing presentation my wife asked me how the day went and all I could say was WOW! I told her that I didn't even know where to begin and I truly meant it. I was so inspired by the day's events that it was like telling a lifetime of memories and knowing which were the best, and knowing where to start. I can't tell you how amazing it was to have you here and how much you have already changed my life as well as the rest of our team.

  Nok

• Simon was one of the most impactful speakers at Birthing of Giants. After each of his 2 sessions, there was a bigger buzz than almost any other speaker over 7 years (and the speaker list is always incredible).

  Birthing of Giants

• Your presentations to our audience at the Sales Summit was extraordinarily well received. Your insights touched a nerve here and left an indelible mark on those who were present. The evaluations were off the chart. Congratulations on a job well done.

  Sales Summit

• As you took the stage, all were expecting the usual motivational message that historically closes all IOCs.  Instead, your message was quite profound in its truth and clarity, presented in a manner that totally captivated our audience. The evaluations and feedback we received made it clear that many will continue to discuss and learn from what you shared long after we all returned home.  Your message resonated with our conference delegates at a deeper level, which truly will effect significant change. It’s difficult to find the appropriate words to thank you for a presentation of such strength, clarity and value.  Its applicability to all aspects of our lives, coupled with your stellar delivery, resulted in a compelling and unforgettable presentation that touched each of us deeply. 

  Hawaii Medical Service Association

• 
  October 2009

  Start With Why

  Start With Why offers an unconventional perspective that explains WHY some people and organizations are more innovative, more profitable, command greater loyalties from customers and employees alike and, most importantly, are able to repeat their success over and over. Because it’s all based on how people think and act, this unique view of the world has application in big business and small business, in politics and non-profit. Though some people have a natural ability to start with WHY, Simon Sinek’s book offers compelling evidence that, with a little discipline, anyone can learn how to do it.