Faith Dixon’s Reviews > Leaders Eat Last / Turn the Ship Around! / The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People > Status Update

Simon Sinek nails and succinctly describes the idea that true multitasking is a myth and that what we are doing is "mental juggling" or "rapid toggling" between tasks and it can cost a worker or student up to 40% of their productive time. This has REALLY got me thinking about how I function in day to day life and how a lack of focus on each task at hand is detrimental to my productivity and mental well being. Wow!

As a Gen X'er/child of a Boomer I find myself completely fed up with Millenials and in my mind insist that THEY need to change and become more like me. This book has helped me to understand that functioning in our world cannot continue to be about who is right and who is wrong, but rather we need to work to understand eachother and why people are the way they are, accept eachother and move forward together.

I appreciate that the emphasis in this book continues to be on leading, rather than simply managing. Leading others is about serving others and working to ensure all those under your leadership feel safe and cared for and have their basic needs met. Managing is only about the numbers and the profit. Studies show that in the long run, companies with "Leaders" are far more successful than companies with "managers".

"When fight or flight is the name of the game and no broad Circle of Safety exists, then kill or get fired is the best strategy." (Pg. 216/217) I have experienced this philosophy in my own career as results and numbers became prioritized over the people and lives we serve. Coworkers can turn on eachother and leadership can nit pick like crazy. I love the emphasis on valuing people over profit first and foremost.

I am looking forward to finishing this book and getting in to a simple good fiction book.. However, the lessons on leadership and life skills and decent human interaction are priceless. That's why I keep reading. Today the word HUMILITY in the context of leadership jumped out. A true leader leads in humility and always places people before profits and outcomes.

I am learning many lessons about leadership that I know will prove useful in life, but this is a challenging read for me because the real life examples in business, military, politics, etc. that Simon Sinek uses to illustrate these lessons are just not my cup of tea. I can totally relate some of the key concepts in this book (particularly the concept of "abstraction") to what has happened with Southwest Airlines.

There has been a great deal of discussion on hormones in the body like serotonin, oxytocin, and cortisol. This is a little scientific in nature and in an ironic kind of way oversimplifies the depth of human emotions.....but it makes sense. It makes sense to me and how I feel at work and my experience of a single career of over 20 years. Cortisol, the stress hormone, I would guess, is way out of balance in my body.

I've been meaning to read this book closely for several years. So far, the reading illustrates the humbling truth about leadership....that it's not all about the glory of "being a leader", but rather about serving others humbly and with integrity. Those of us who work with others in collaborative work environments need to grasp the value and importance of true empathy and good listening skills.