"Leaders eat last" refers to a common practice in the military, where the highest-ranking officers are often the last to eat, ensuring that their subordinates are fed first. This is a symbolic gesture that shows that the leaders are willing to put the needs of their team members ahead of their own.Simon Sinek belives that true leadership is about putting the needs of others before your own. This means creating a culture of safety and belonging where people feel valued and respected, even when things are tough.

What does it mean that leaders eat last?

"Destructive Abundance" is the state where protecting the results is prioritised above protecting those who produce the results.Companies get in this state because the leaders only care about the score but forgot why they decided to play the game in the first place. Challenge is replaced by temptation and people are replaceable.

Destructive Abundance

We don’t just trust people to obey the rules, we also trust that they know when to break them.

The basic leadership rules for creating a safe environment for the team to thrive:<ol><li>Start with why. Have a clear and compelling purpose to communicate to the team. </li><li>Build trust. Create a culture of trust & respect where people feel safe to be themselves and take risks. Honesty & Transparency are key here. </li><li>Embrace vulnerability. Show vulnerability and admit your mistakes. Be human!</li><li>Celebrate wins. Celebrate the successes of their team, no matter how small.</li><li>Never give up. Be resilient and never give up on their team, even when things are tough.</li></ol>

5 Rules for Leaders to create a Circle of Safety

Those at the top have all the authority and none of the information.
Those at the bottom have all the information and none of the authority.

The Circle of Safety refers to a feeling of security & belonging that is essential for human beings to thrive. When we feel safe, we are more likely to take risks, be creative, and innovate. This is because we are not worried about our own survival, so we can focus on helping the team succeed.The first step to being a good leader is understanding that an organization is essentially a Circle of Safety. The people's insecurities vanish inside thisCircle, but a bad leader will inevitably shrink or fracture it into multiple small ones.

The Circle of Safety

Rules keep our society moving forward. It helps leader maintain a Circle of Safety and so on. However rules must to be trusted not obeyed. And most of us obey the rules ... out of fear. This is the reason we often hate bureaucrats. They always follow the rules and never show the human side our brain understands better.Trust is the better way fwd. Trust means people have to trust their leaders and get the freedom to break them when needed.

Rules are Not Infalable

How Long Does It Take to Trust Someone? We can never trust someone right away. Meeting a person for the first time naturally releases dopamine that masks how we actually feel about that person until the novelty fades; this is why we shouldn't get married after a week. Conversely, if after several years we still feel like we don't belong in a group, maybe it's time to let go.Getting to know if we can trust someone takes more than 7 days and less than 7 years. These are the magic timeframes of trust.

Between 7 days and 7 years

Leaders have the vision and should delegate the authority to the ones with the information, that they can trust.Trust requires integrity - the capacity of someone to consistently adhere to some moral values.

Authority & Integrity

Finally in paperback: the New York Times bestseller by the acclaimed, bestselling author of Start With Why and Together is Better. Now with an expanded chapter and appendix on leading millennials, based on Simon Sinek's viral video "Millenials in the workplace" (150+ million views). Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels trusted and valued during the day, then returns home feeling fulfilled. This is not a crazy, idealized notion. Today, in many successful organizations, great leaders create environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things. In his work with organizations around the world, Simon Sinek noticed that some teams trust each other so deeply that they would literally put their lives on the line for each other. Other teams, no matter what incentives are offered, are doomed to infighting, fragmentation and failure. Why? The answer became clear during a conversation with a Marine Corps general. "Officers eat last," he said. Sinek watched as the most junior Marines ate first while the most senior Marines took their place at the back of the line. What's symbolic in the chow hall is deadly serious on the battlefield: Great leaders sacrifice their own comfort--even their own survival--for the good of those in their care.      Too many workplaces are driven by cynicism, paranoia, and self-interest. But the best ones foster trust and cooperation because their leaders build what Sinek calls a "Circle of Safety" that separates the security inside the team from the challenges outside. Sinek illustrates his ideas with fascinating true stories that range from the military to big business, from government to investment banking.

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Communication

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Leadership & Management

Simon Oliver Sinek is a British-born American author and inspirational speaker. He is the author of five books, including Start With Why and The Infinite Game.

SIMON SINEK

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