Simon Sinek VRP
Simon O. Sinek (born October 9, 1973) is an optimist, a leadership expert, and author best known for popularizing the concept of “the golden circle“, described by TED as “a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question “Why?”‘. He joined the RAND Corporation in 2010 as an adjunct staff member, where he advises on matters of military innovation and planning. His first TED Talk on “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” is the 7th most viewed video onTED.com. His 2009 book on the same subject, Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (2009) delves into what he says is a naturally occurring pattern, grounded in the biology of human decision-making, that explains why we are inspired by some people, leaders, messages and organizations over others. In December 2011, the book topped the list of best sellers for corporate America according to 800-CEO-READ.
Beginning as a student in anthropology, Simon Sinek turned his fascination with people into a career of convincing people to do what inspires them. His earliest work was in advertising, moving on to start Sinek Partners in 2002, but he suddenly lost his passion despite earning solid income. Through his struggle to rediscover his excitement about life and work, he made some profound realizations and began his helping his friends and their friends to find their “why” — at first charging just $100, person by person. Never planning to write a book, he penned Start With Why simply as a way to distribute his message.
He has commented for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, FastCompany, CMO Magazine, NPR and BusinessWeek, and is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, BrandWeek, IncBizNet.
Early life:
Sinek was born in Wimbledon, England; at a young age he moved to Johannesburg, South Africa, then to London, then to Hong Kong, before settling in New Jersey. He attended Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest, graduating in the class of 1991. He earned a BA degree in cultural anthropology from Brandeis University; he attended City University in London with the intention of becoming a barrister, but left law school to go into advertising. He moved to New York and joined Euro/RSCG, an ad agency, where he worked on the MCI account. He then joined Ogilvy & Mather, and was later recruited back to Euro/RSCG, where he worked on accounts for Oppenheimer Funds, MCI, NASDAQ and DISH Network. In 2002, he started his own company, Sinek Partners.
Current life:
Active in the not-for-profit world, Sinek works with “Count Me In,” an organization committed to helping one million women-owned businesses reach a million dollars in revenues by 2012, and he serves on the Board of Directors for Danspace Project, an organization that fends for advancing art and dance.
He lives in New York and teaches a graduate-level class in strategic communications at Columbia University.
Books:
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (Dec 27, 2011)
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek (Jan 7, 2014)
Personal website: http://www.startwithwhy.com/Home.aspx
On social networks:
https://twitter.com/simonsinek
https://www.facebook.com/simonsinek
YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/channel/HCOeLSmOyk2Ts
