Prioritizing People Over Profits | Simon Sinek

True leaders prioritize the well-being of those directly responsible for the company's success ahead of outsiders who simply profit from it.

Simon Sinek delivers a compelling critique of modern capitalism and its departure from foundational principles. Simon argues against the profit-at-all-costs mentality and advocates for a return to a system that benefits everyone. He stresses the importance of long-term thinking and caring for employees and customers alike.

Video from Parker Seminars Las Vegas, February 2024

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Simon is an unshakable optimist. He believes in a bright future and our ability to build it together.

Described as “a visionary thinker with a rare intellect,” Simon has devoted his professional life to help advance a vision of the world that does not yet exist; a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single morning inspired, feel safe wherever they are and end the day fulfilled by the work that they do.

Simon is the author of multiple best-selling books including Start With Why, Leaders Eat Last, Together is Better, and The Infinite Game.

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Simon’s books:

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#SimonSinek

[artiemergent]

Simon Sinek's message resonates deeply. In a world that often prioritizes profits over people, his reminder of the importance of human connection and empathy is a much-needed breath of fresh air. It's inspiring to hear him advocate for a business model that values employees and customers equally. This video serves as a powerful call to action for leaders to rethink their priorities and create a more compassionate and sustainable workplace.

[stephenschroeder]

Most who have commented and will comment act as if capitalism is a thing, an entity, something that can be held in one's hand. It is not that. It is only a process, even a philosophy if you will. An economic system.

What you are seeing is a change in the _behavior_ of the people utilizing it. That will always be the reason for success or failure in any human endeavor. *Economic Systems* are only as good or bad/evil as the people utilizing them. To have a better world, one needs better people.

[Minnross]

Consultants in particular McKinsey (who started it) are taking us in a bad direction overall. Simon gets it. Capitalism good, McKinsey bad. 🙂

[wbbarth]

I would argue Milton Friedman also contributed massively to this broken capitalism. He argued that Companies have NO OBLIGATION to help society only maximize profits for the share holders.

[ottovitza]

KPI should mean keep people involved or keep people interested

[adityaagarwal]

I'd hope Simon covers boeing as well. The last being CEOs were heavily linked with Jack Welch school of thought. Look what those idiots have done to one of the greatest American brands.

[sophiaisabelle]

We appreciate your dedication and hard work. Keep working hard.

[ElsieWilliams-kkle]

Outstanding information, with world crisis, rising inflation and economic instability due to poor governance, consider digital assets as a means to attain financial freedom.

[JaroBerce]

Simon,

I must respectfully disagree with your assertion that capitalism is inherently beneficial. The form of capitalism we witnessed at the beginning of the 20th century and after the 1990s remains fundamentally the same: it is brutally exploitative of people, often referred to as "human capital, " reducing them to mere costs for companies, which is a profoundly flawed perspective.

In capitalism, the sole objective is profit, often achieved at the expense of both the environment and individuals. How is this profit generated? Workers are not fully compensated for the value they create. In this system, employees are the primary asset and the sole contributors to a company's value, yet they are paradoxically listed on the expense side of the balance sheet. They should be considered investments, akin to tools and machinery used in production. It is ironic that investments in tools and equipment are seen as necessary for maintenance and improvement, while investments in employee education and development are merely treated as costs. This is fundamentally incorrect. If workers were properly accounted for as assets, then educational pursuits would be regarded as investments.

Do you believe capitalism has evolved? I assure you, it has not. The core nature of capitalism remains unchanged. What has changed since the 1990s is the competitive environment. Prior to that period, capitalism had to contend with another system, which prevented it from revealing its true, brutal nature. If it had, the working class could have easily revolted and dismantled the capitalist structure. Consequently, capitalism had to adopt a softer approach to avoid provoking rebellion during the post-WWI era up until the 1990s. Before WWI and after the 1990s, capitalism shed its facade, revealing its true nature, which is what we are experiencing today.

best regards jaro.

[just_a_character]

If you want change - get rid of at-will employment and mandate other steps like CEO salary reduction and other cost cutting measures before layoffs. Also, people should have 60 days notice before lays off are mentioned. This will put more pressure on CEOs and other leaders to plan ahead, be smart, not over hire, and get rid of this mentality that employees are expendable.

[julius_nuernberger]

What is so wrong with prioritizing profit so long as one is straighforward about it? People will naturally gravitate towards those kinds of opportunities that provide them with the largest profits, whether that is financial profit or spiritual profit or environmental profit or whichever kind of profit they find worthy of pursuit.

[XavierDenis-ywxw]

If a system is flawed, such as capitalism is, then the people who will use it will try to keep it alive. They will use the system in any way that can maintain it especially if they benefit from it. Someone like Jake Welch, who he mentionned in the video, are only people that fill the void that the system creates. Capitalism worked after the war because the US used the opportunity of World War II to gobble everything in the world. But in the 1970's, it started to fail. The direction it took wasn't because of the individual, the individuable was simply taking the system in a direction it could survive for longer. If Jake Welch wasn't there to fill that role, someone else would have

[SefricFrampus]

One of the things that broke the system which also occurred inthis period was the abandonment of the gold standard.

[AliensWanted]

He's conflating Capitalism with Corporatism. Not the same thing.

[RichardRaphael-yqot]

Thomas Jefferson said merchants have no country. He thought that the capitalist class of the day has no loyalty or ties to land. I'm not sure he's a good example of support of capitalism.

Well, not disagree with one of my contemporary heroes, but today's capitalism is yesterday's capitalism. Humanity uses the best tools that support their interests, and capitalism is a proper economic and social tool. Today's capitalist isn't the capitalist of the 1970s - that's the problem.

The standards that governed capitalism have changed because modern capitalists concluded, as Adam Smith pointed out, you don't need to enslave them; you need only pay them little (or wages sufficient to provide the necessaries).

Don't blame the system (the tool of commerce) -- blame the merchant.

[useruser]

So I can confidently say we only seen bad fascism...that doesn't mean good fascism doesn't exist or not working...
However in my opinion we have seen it if we only considering it in terms of the economic systems...

[alexfrog]

This is clipped oddly.
Simon, if someone watches this as their first video from you, they will be intrigued to watch more of your videoes but can easily end up confused.
Your book 'The Infinite Game' becomes contradicted with the inclusion of that final statement without additional context.

[timothywilson]

No, its the perceptions that broke or at least needing some serious updates

[BeAlphaX]

Prioritizing People Over Profits is a good idea and practice but it is Bad for the Businessman... reality the employer wants only for their business...

[aceofspades]

No jack Welch did many great things for GE but he did some terrible things. I can go into detail as someone that worked for GE what he did and what he didn’t do.