I have watched almost every one of Simon
Sineks TedX talks and read almost everything I could that he has had printed.
There are two right now that I am trying to process and make sense of are, “ Why Leaders Eat Last” and “Why Good leaders
make you feel safe”. These are two very powerful talks that he gives, and if
you haven’t seen them, I strongly suggest you take the time to watch them.
When I first heard the title, “why leaders
eat last” it meant something completely different to me then what it does now.
I asked my husband, a firefighter if this was the case. Does his Captain always
eat last? This was something he had never thought about before, but his answer
was yes! With that answer, I felt an immediate sense of relief, this is a man
(the captain) that my husband will take orders from, including rushing in to a
burning building, and he wont think twice about it, his Captain doesn’t demand
respect, nor is their a rule book that states, “your crew must eat first”. In
my eyes, this man is a born leader. He is taking care of his people and making
sure that by eating last his people are taken care of….as a wife of a
firefighter…I thank you!
I have been thinking a lot about the words
that I heard and read, over and over again and what I can surmise is this.
People will feel safe in an organization if there is trust. Establishing
trust, doesn’t take much, building trust requires nothing more than telling the
truth. It’s that simple, we are not in a leadership role to break people, to
make them cry, to watch them crumble, we are their to build them up and to be
the best they can. But, we must have trust for this to happen.
I couldn’t sleep…so many of his words resonated loudly and the more
I thought about them the louder the words got, and so I found that the next is
so incredibly true regardless of where you are, whether it is the School in
which you teach or the soccer pitch watching your kids, leaders set the tone
and direction for the people. Hypocrites, liars and self-interested leaders
create cultures that are in turn filled with hypocrites, liars and
self-interested employees. The leaders, who tell the truth, in comparison, will
inevitably create a culture of people who tell the truth. It's not rocket
science people. We follow the good leaders.
Much of what Simon says had me thinking about where I am right
now in my career. Wanting to be a leader, and not just any leader but a good
leader. I think about the different personalities that each physical building
will bring. I think about my own strengths and weaknesses and I think about the
people and the people that have made the most impact on me. These people have
all had one common ability. They have had the ability to make everyone
(regardless of personality) feel safe. Safe to try new things, safe to take
risks, safe to speak your mind and to challenge other peoples ideas. But when
you don’t feel safe, people create their own personal bubble and have to manage
dangers from inside their safety zone, this immediately decreases any chance of
anyone facing danger or taking risks.
We must be there for our team, we must trust them and we must make them feel safe. "A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected." no further words are needed.
