What Most Leaders Get Wrong (Simon Sinek)
episodePreviously titled “Simon Sinek: Don’t Be a Toxic Leader” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
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How does Simon explain 'People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it?'
I wear an orange strap on my watch. I always have a flash of orange somewhere on me. It's not for you. It's for me. It's a reminder. Optimism. It's my job. Right? And it's a reminder to me. These little things. I have the word inspire embroidered in some of my clothes.
Yeah.
gets tucked into my jeans. Like, you're not going to see it. I see it when I get dressed in the morning. It's not there for you. It's there for me. So I'm surrounded by pictures on my desk, you know, things hanging in my home, things on my body. I've chosen orange. I've chosen the word optimism as a reminder to me of my job to help me stay in balance.
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What is the 'celery test' and how does it help clarify your why?
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That's www.primallypure.com and use code ASPIRE at checkout for 15% off your order. Simon, I am so incredibly excited to have you here today because you know a lot about two of my favorite subjects, one being leadership and the other one being purpose or what you've really kind of, you know, defined for the world as your why. And I have to tell you, Your video, what was it? The Power, no, not The Power of Why. It was not The Power of Why. I don't know what they called it. They was like, I don't know. But let me tell you, it doesn't even matter what they called it because there was just this one beautiful standout line that for me, I obsessed over. I think I watched it every day for months and months and months ahead of launching Good American.
So this is going back quite a few years now. And it was, people don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it. And for people that maybe, you know, if you're not one of the millions and millions and millions of people that have viewed that video, will you just explain for me out the gate what you meant by that? Because today I want to spend most of the time talking about your personal why and a lot of time talking about what good leadership really looks like. But I'd love you just to surmise that for those that don't know you as well as I think I know you.
Yeah, I mean, it's a simple concept people buy into. what you believe, loyalty, love, all of those things come from connecting with you, a person with you, a brand. People buy things that are cheaper. These are transactional relationships. We don't have any loyalty to those things. And what I learned was that all the most inspiring brands, all the most inspiring leaders, From Martin Luther King to Steve Jobs, every single one of them thinks, acts, and communicates the exact same way. And it's the complete opposite to the rest of us. Them personally, and in the case of Jobs, this company. Most of us tell people what we do. We tell them what the product is. We tell them what the price is. We tell them what the value is.
We tell them what the features and the benefits are. And we expect that that's going to drive a behavior. But if you look at the biology of how people actually make decisions, it's something not rational. It's something deeply, deeply emotional in the limbic part of our brain. Our limbic brain controls all of our decision-making, all of our feelings. But it doesn't control language, which is why it's hard to put sometimes these things into words.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How does Simon explain 'People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it?'
0:09–0:58
2
What is the 'celery test' and how does it help clarify your why?
0:58–5:03
3
How can you discover your personal why using the 'friends test'?
5:03–14:09
4
Why is helping others and asking for help central to leadership and trust?
14:09–47:45
5
How does Simon explain 'service' and simple acts that make someone a leader?
47:45–52:12
6
What are the three monumental human skills every leader must practice?
52:12–58:55
7
How can someone undo a toxic corporate culture from inside the team?
58:55–1:03:49
8
Why does Simon focus on optimism, purpose and building friendships as a leadership strategy?
1:03:49–1:32:19
Speakers
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