Essay on
Leaders Eat Last
by Simon Sinek
Who is a leader? An easy question that is difficult to answer. I often had a question mark on that. Honestly, I was a bit confused about how to be the right leader. How direct should I be? How much freedom should I give? What is the balance between management and leadership? I think Simon Sinek gave me an answer to all of that and more.
These are some of the thoughts I found vital.
There are four important hormones that pretty much drive our behavior. One of them is endorphin. It masks our physical pain. That is why we like to push boundaries in sports. Another one of them is dopamine. That one is released when we manage to reach our goals. But it can cause edictions as well. It gets released when we drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or scroll our phones. Both of these hormones are crucial for our survival. And especially in tribal times, it is what drove us to do hunting and searching for food.
We are social animals. In the tribal times, we had to protect each other in order to survive. The danger in the outside world is constant, but in our companies, it is variable. And that is where our leaders play an important role.
Serotonin is the hormone representing pride and recognition. Our confidence goes up. The interesting thing about serotonin is that when people close to us accomplish something and we share the moment with them, we also experience serotonin! Whether a family member or a colleague at work. We can also trick serotonin with material goods, for instance when we buy new designer clothes.
The two things leader is responsible for are:
Because when it is extended to the outer edges of the organization, we experience this belonging all across the company.
We are judging and assessing who is the alpha around us. The cost of leadership is self interest. When you are a leader you have to put yourself at risk to look after others. And that is as Simon says, the anthropological definition of leadership.
Another hormone is oxytocin. It gives us a good feeling when we spend time with others. It is a feeling that someone has got your back. We can get it for instance with physical contact and acts of human generosity. When someone does something for us without expecting anything back. Leaders should be the ones that give us their time and energy. And on top of that, oxytocin increases our ability to solve problems and to be creative.
When people in your company feel safe, they share their safety with the customers. On the other side of that are people not having support from their leaders and not experiencing this safety. What is the approach they take with the customers? Same.
Cortisol is the feeling of stress and anxiety. It exists to keep us alive. Between groups, when we get stressed out, other people get stressed out. That is the way we are protected. When this happens, it shuts off our immune system. When we are in environments where we do not feel protected, our body keeps releasing cortisol. And when we are busy protecting ourselves, we cannot be empathetic towards people around us. That way Simon says, our companies are literally killing us.
Leadership is not about position. It is about looking out for each other. When we do that, we are leaders. It is our willingness to sacrifice a bit of ourselves for others.
