In this blog post, we’ll explore Simon Sinek quotes on leadership, success, and motivation. Sinek’s words are a great reminder that success is attainable if we focus on what truly matters.
Simon Sinek is a successful communicator and inspirational speaker. He is known for his ability to start with the Why? of things, and has written a best-selling book on the subject. His unique style and became one of the world’s most sought-after speakers.
After university, Sinek worked in market research, where he learned about the power of starting with a question. He then applied what he learned in the business world, where he enjoyed great success.
Sinek is now a well-known author and speaker, and his Ted Talk on the Golden Circle has been viewed more than 33 million times.
In it, Sinek explains his theory of the Golden Circle, which states that people and organizations are successful to the extent that they know their Why.
Here are some of Simon Sinek quotes on leadership, management and motivation.
61 Simon Sinek Quotes
- “Dream big. Start small. But most of all, start.”
2. “Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress: Working hard for something we love is called passion.”
3. “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe”
4. “If you want to achieve anything in this world, you have to get used to the idea that not everyone will like you.”
5. “When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you.”
6. “The only way to ‘find out if it will work out’ is to do it.”
7. “If you can clearly articulate the dream or the goal, start.”
8. “We are not victims of our situation. We are the architects of it.”
9. “Instead, managers must become leaders in their own right, which means they must take responsibility for the care and protection of those in their charge, confident that their leaders will take care of them.”
10. “Innovators are the ones whose dreams are clearer than the reality that tells them they’re crazy.”
11. “two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.”
12. “It is better to disappoint people with the truth than to appease them with a lie.”-
13. “Value is not determined by those who set the price. Value is determined by those who choose to pay it.”
14. “Most of us live our lives by accident – we live as it happens. Fulfilment comes when we live our lives on purpose.”
Motivational Simon Sinek quotes
15. “The only way to ‘find out if it will work out’ is to do it.”
16. “Anything that separates us from the impact our words and actions have on other people has the potential to lead us down a dangerous path.”
17. “If no one ever broke the rules, then we’d never advance.”
18. “My favorite definition of love is giving someone the power to destroy us and trusting they won’t use it.”
19. “Life is beautiful not because of the things we see or do. Life is beautiful because of the people we meet.”
20. “To succeed takes more than the desire to win. It also takes the acceptance that we could fail.”
21. “Cigarettes are out. Social media is in. It’s the drug of the twenty-first century. (At least people who smoke stand outside together.)”
22. “In weak organizations, without oversight, too many people will break the rules for personal gain. That’s what makes the organizations weak. In strong organizations, people will break the rules because it is the right thing to do for others.”
23. “The goal is not to be perfect by the end, the goal is to be better today.”
24. “Trust is not formed through a screen, it is formed across a table. It takes a handshake to bind humans . . . and no technology yet can replace that. There is no such thing as virtual trust.”
25. “The leaders of great organizations do not see people as a commodity to be managed to help grow the money. They see the money as the commodity to be managed to help grow their people.”
26. “If you have the opportunity to do amazing things in your life, I strongly encourage you to invite someone to join you.”
27. “100% of customers are people. 100% of employees are people. If you don’t understand people you don’t understand business.”
Simon Sinek Leadership Quotes
28. “the true price of leadership is the willingness to place the needs of others above your own.”
29. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
30. “Let us all be the leaders we wish we had.”
31. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
32. “You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”
33. “It is not the genius at the top giving directions that makes people great. It is great people that make the guy at the top look like a genius.”
34. “Leadership requires two things: a vision of the world that does not yet exist and the ability to communicate it.”
35. “Good leadership is like exercise. We do not see any improvement to our bodies with day-to-day comparisons.”
36. “Leadership is not a license to do less; it is a responsibility to do more.”
37. “A star wants to see himself rise to the top. A leader wants to see those around him rise to the top.”
38. “Leadership is a way of thinking, a way of acting and, most importantly, a way of communicating.”
39. “Being a leader is like being a parent, and the company is like a new family to join. One that will care for us like we are their own . . . in sickness and in health.”
40. “And when a leader embraces their responsibility to care for people instead of caring for numbers, then people will follow, solve problems and see to it that that leader’s vision comes to life the right way, a stable way and not the expedient way.”
41. “Leaders are the ones who are willing to give up something of their own for us. Their time, their energy, their money, maybe even the food off their plate. When it matters, leaders choose to eat last.”
42. “The greatest contribution of a leader is to make other leaders.”
43. “The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen.”
44. “What makes a good leader is that they eschew the spotlight in favor of spending time and energy to do what they need to do to support and protect their people.”
45. “Leaders are the ones who run headfirst into the unknown. They rush toward the danger. They put their own interests aside to protect us or to pull us into the future. Leaders would sooner sacrifice what is theirs to save what is ours.”
46. “A boss has the title. A leader has the people.”
47. “A leader’s legacy is only as strong as the foundation they leave behind that allows others to continue to advance the organization in their name.”
48. “The only reason the field continues to grow is because of increasing demand. The more we try to make ourselves feel better, the worse we seem to feel.”
49. “the true price of leadership is the willingness to place the needs of others above your own. Great leaders truly care about those they are privileged to lead and understand that the true cost of the leadership privilege comes at the expense of self-interest.”
50. “Stress and anxiety at work have less to do with the work we do and more to do with weak management and leadership.”
51. “Leadership requires two things: a vision of the world that does not yet exist and the ability to communicate it.”
52. “When our leaders give us something noble to be a part of, offer us a compelling purpose or reason why we should come to work, something that will outlive us, it seems to give us the power to do the right thing when called upon, even if we have to make sacrifices to our comfort in the short term.”
53. “Truly human leadership protects an organization from the internal rivalries that can shatter a culture. When we have to protect ourselves from each other, the whole organization suffers.”
54. “In short, professional competence is not enough to be a good leader; good leaders must truly care about those entrusted to their care.”
55. “If good people are asked to work in a bad culture, one in which leaders do not relinquish control, then the odds of something bad happening go up. People will be more concerned about following the rules out of fear of getting in trouble or losing their jobs than doing what needs to be done. And when that happens, souls will be lost.”
56. “If our leaders are to enjoy the trappings of their position in the hierarchy, then we expect them to offer us protection. The problem is, for many of the overpaid leaders, we know that they took the money and perks and didn’t offer protection to their people. In some cases, they even sacrificed their people to protect or boost their own interests. This is what so viscerally offends us. We only accuse them of greed and excess when we feel they have violated the very definition of what it means to be a leader.”
57. “When the people have to manage dangers from inside the organization, the organization itself becomes less able to face the dangers from outside.”
Simon Sinek Quotes on Hiring
58. “Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them.”
59. “You don’t hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.”
60. “If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.”
61. “Some in management positions operate as if they are in a tree of monkeys. They make sure that everyone at the top of the tree looking down sees only smiles. But all too often, those at the bottom looking up see only asses.”