Simon Sinek'sOptimism Company

Simon Says

A Collection of Quotes from Simon Sinek

Looking for a quote to inspire your company, shift your team's mindset, or make your day a little brighter? You've come to the right place!

A leader without a title is better than a title without the ability to lead.
Bad leaders care about who’s right. Good leaders care about what’s right.
Good leaders have the ability to inspire us in their lifetime. Great leaders have the ability to inspire us beyond their lifetime.
Strong leaders earn loyalty. Weak leaders demand it.
There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.
When we know WHY we do what we do, everything falls into place. When we don’t, we have to push things into place.
Fulfillment comes when we do something to help someone else.
Our passions are ignited when we set out to advance a cause greater than ourselves.
Those in pursuit of WHY are inspired to do what is right.
Visionaries aren’t the only ones who have big ideas. Visionaries are the ones who can clearly communicate their big ideas to others.
Happiness comes from WHAT we do. Fulfillment comes from WHY we do it.
We know true collaboration happened when the idea can no longer be traced to one person.
Don’t feel guilty accepting someone’s help. You can achieve more with others than you can by yourself.
Building a strong culture is what builds a strong organization.
When we work on a Trusting Team, we feel safe to admit our mistakes, be honest about our shortcomings, and ask for help when we need it.
If we were good at everything, we would have no need for each other.
The goal is to feel a part of something, not just play a part in anything.
Success is a team sport.
We can only truly be in charge when we are willing to let others take charge.
A great leader doesn’t only inspire us to have confidence in what THEY can do. A great leader inspires us to have confidence in what WE can do.
Be the leader you wish you had.
Being right doesn’t make us trustworthy. Being honest makes us trustworthy.
An excessive drive for order interrupts the beautiful chaos needed for creativity to thrive.
Effective communication starts with listening.
Don’t show up to prove. Show up to improve.
There is a cost to lead. True leaders are willing to pay the price: sacrifice self-interest and put their Cause ahead of themselves.
New ideas need audiences like flowers need bees. No matter how brilliant and colorful, they will die unless others work to spread them.
The next time someone starts listing all the reasons an idea can’t work, ask them to give three reasons it can.
We can contribute to a relationship. But we can’t control a relationship.
It is the weak leader that compensates by acting strong. It is the strong leader that allows people to see when they are weak.
Asking for help is an act of service. Don’t deny the people who love you the honor of being there to support you.
We achieve more when we chase the dream instead of the competition.
A poor leader will tell you how many people work for them. A great leader will tell you how many people they work for.
The more people you inspire, the more people will inspire you.
A community is a group of people who agree to grow together.
For an employee to take responsibility, they must first be given it.
So goes the leader, so goes the culture. So goes the culture, so goes the company.
The joy of leadership comes from seeing others achieve more than they thought they were capable of.
Most of us live our lives by accident—we live it as it happens. Fulfillment comes when we live our lives on purpose.
If we want people to speak to us honestly, we must be willing to honestly listen.
Admire those who admire others.
To ask, “What’s best for me?” is finite thinking. To ask, “What’s best for us?” is infinite thinking.
Strong relationships are based on trust and communication. But if there is no communication, there can be no trust.
Our passion lies deep in who we are, not what we do.
Giving can be as simple as saying “thank you” to someone and meaning it. We should all give a little more.
Too many modern companies have replaced a person with a number and mistakenly called that number a customer.
Strong leaders are long on vision. Weak leaders are short on sight.
The value of emotions comes from sharing them, not simply having them.
A weak leader likes to tell us how many people work for them. A great leader is humbled to tell us how many people they work for.
The mind can be convinced, but the heart must be won.
Selfish is easy. It’s sharing that takes courage.
Appreciate when things go awry. It makes for a better story to share later.
The most accurate tool for measuring trust is human intuition.
Offer your strengths to others and you will be amazed how many people offer their strengths to you.
It’s better to go slowly in the right direction, than to go speeding off in the wrong direction.
Good marketing speaks to us. Bad marketing speaks at us.
Life is beautiful not because of the things we see or the things we do. Life is beautiful because of the people we meet.
The greatest contribution of a leader is to make others leaders.
The best leaders are also the best followers. They follow a purpose, cause, or belief bigger than themselves.
Progress is fueled by the undying belief that the future is bright.
Start with WHY.
Creating something new is easy. Creating something that can last is the challenge.
The more we focus on what our competition is doing, the less we’re focused on what we’re doing.
Experts are the ones who think they know everything. Geniuses are the ones who know they don’t.
Bad marketing values promotions. Good marketing promotes values.
The true value of networking doesn’t come from how many people we can meet, but rather how many people we can introduce to others.
Our choices reveal our intentions.
Regardless of technology or the speed of innovation, people are still people. And all the rules of humanity still apply.
A movement starts with a clear vision of a world different than the one we live in today.
Loyalty is the desire to defend someone when they are not there to defend themselves.
We take responsibility for our actions at the time we perform our actions, not at the time we get caught.
The opportunity for creativity begins the moment we don’t know what we’re doing.
Mature companies fail because they forget why they were born.
If there are people who care, there is always hope.
It’s better to endure the discomfort of the truth now than to suffer the discomfort of the lie later.
It feels good to help people. So, get out there and feel good!
To be innovative, we can’t look to what others have done. The whole idea of blazing a path is that there was no path there before.
A culture is strong when people work with each other, for each other. A culture is weak when people work against each other, for themselves.
Leaders take the risk to trust first.
Vision is the ability to talk about the future with such clarity, it is as if we are talking about the past.
We are here to give.
When we focus on the competition, we become reactive. When we focus on improving ourselves, we become innovative.
The goal is not to be perfect by the end. The goal is to be better today.
Greatness happens when the person with the wild imagination collaborates with the person who knows how to get things done.
When we try to please everyone, we end up pleasing no one…least of all, ourselves.
To get the best advice, it’s better to talk to a few people personally than it is to talk to a lot of people digitally.
Good leaders share the credit when things go well and take responsibility when things go badly.
Creativity is the art of finding a new route to a known destination.
When in doubt, be yourself.
When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.
Stop looking for a course of action and instead become obsessed with understanding the cause of action.
When the incentives offered prioritize growth over stability, we successfully build large, unstable organizations.
A leader must be inspired by people before a leader can inspire people.
That idea is so fantastic. Stop talking about it and do it.
Work ethic is giving great effort to complete a task. Passion is giving great effort to advance a Cause.
It is a luxury to put our interests first. It is an honor to put the interests of others before our own.
Communication is not about saying what we think. Communication is about ensuring others hear what we mean.
Pure pragmatism can’t imagine a bold future. Pure idealism can’t get anything done. It’s when the two cooperate that magic happens.
Leadership is not a license to do less. Leadership is a responsibility to do more.
For a Cause to be Just, it must be durable, resilient and timeless.