As you may have read in my previous post, I love Simon Sinek Leadership quotes. I unpacked five of the quotes in that post, where I shared my thoughts and perception on each. In this post, I unpack another five and once again share my opinion on each.

“We can’t all be good at everything. This is partly the logic behind having a team in the first place, so each role can be filled with the person best suited for that role and together, every job and every strength is covered”

Good leadership is about understanding individuals and their strengths as well as their areas for development, so that their strengths may be utilised to the optimum benefit for the entire team. Not everyone can or was meant to lead others and not everyone wants to. Find your forte and use this to empower and inspire others.

Each of us have a role to fulfill, own it! Don’t let anyone stand in your way. If you have an idea, turn it into reality. You do not need to be a manager to make things happen or to make a positive difference. If you respect and trust each other and each other’s roles in a team, everyone will win as a team.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

They say “actions speak louder than words” – I find this to be very true. It’s very easy to say things, but it’s in doing those things, that you really get people to be inspired. People look at your actions, they watch your behaviour and they copy it, even when you least expect.

As a leader, you should therefore ensure that your behaviour is always worth being copied. You don’t have to say a lot, you sometimes don’t have to say anything, all you need to do is just “be” you and if your attitude is positive, it will motivate and inspire others. Be the type of leader that you wish your leader to be. You don’t have to sing your own praises when your actions speak for itself. People may not always listen to what you say, but they will remember what you did and the feeling it stimulated.

“You don’t hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.”

I have come across so many people in my life, that had the highest qualifications/skills but the wrong attitude. Having the right attitude is about being enthusiastic, it’s about being open minded, it’s about being open to learning, it’s about having a “can do” mentality. I would personally much rather work with people who have the right attitude because I know in time, the skills can be transferred to them, because of their willingness to learn.

I’ve also had the disadvantage of working with people with a less than pleasant attitude (I’m being nice here). These people are draining. They are moody, self-absorbing, disruptive and generally not a pleasure to work with. It’s therefore so important to consider attitude and whether or not the potential candidate may fit in with the team or not. It’s often not inability to do a job that makes a person leave a company, but more so the environment and culture fit.

“The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen.”

A great leader is someone who has the ability to listen attentively. He or she will have the ability to help you unleash your creative ideas in the manner in which they lead and guide you.

A great leader believes in your and your team, is selfless and always encouraging, will promote your ideas and not take credit for it as his or her own. A great leader creates an environment where employees are happy and comfortable to communicate their ideas for improvement. A great leader is empowering, trustworthy and motivating.

“And when a leader embraces their responsibility to care for people instead of caring for numbers, then people will follow, solve problems and see to it that that leader’s vision comes to life the right way, a stable way and not the expedient way.”

People are not numbers and shouldn’t be treated as such. When people are made to feel valued, they will have a positive morale and it’s this positive morale that makes them committed and go the extra mile. People want to feel a sense of belonging, they want to feel valued. If they are made to feel this way, there are no limits to what they will do to support the company vision/strategy.

If people are seen to be the most important resource in any organisation, this acknowledgement will create a sense of worth, which will naturally make them treat the business as their own and this will ultimately lead to grow customer loyalty and build brand strength.

Leading people is not an easy task. It always seems easy when you’re not the one leading. For some people, it comes naturally to them, but others have to develop their skills to effectively lead people. I think Simon Sinek has great learning that we can all take from these quotes to brush up on our leadership skills.

If you enjoyed these quotes, then have a look at this video by Simon Sinek, where he speaks about “How Great Leaders Inspire Action“.

For those of you who enjoy reading non-fiction books on leadership, then have a look at some of the books by Simon Sinek:

For more details, check out the Simon Sinek website.

I hope you enjoyed reading this and if you found any value in it or have any comments, you know what to do….