1. 1-Sentence-Summary:
1.1. Leaders Eat Last teaches you where the need for leadership comes from historically, what the consequences of bad leadership are and how you can be a good leader in the modern world.
2. Favorite quote from the author:
2.1. "It is not the genius at the top giving directions that makes people great. It is great people that make the guy at the top look like a genius." - Simon Sinek
3. 3 lessons:
3.1. Safety means progress. And leaders provide safety.
3.1.1. Think about the last time you made a lot of progress on a fun little side project of yours. Where there was nothing to gain but the joy of doing it.
3.1.2. The reason you could focus entirely on making progress on something you care about, is because your basic needs were already secured in that particular moment.
3.1.3. Our brain always defaults to safety mode, and the reason is simple: it had to in the past, or we wouldn’t be here.
3.1.4. Today all of our safety problems revolve around money, but our ancestors had tons of safety issues.
3.1.4.1. They had to run away from saber-tooth tigers, hide from enemies, avoid diseases, and oh, hunt and gather their own food and find a place to stay.
3.1.5. Progress only started occurring once they moved around in groups and delegated tasks.
3.1.5.1. When John takes care of collecting berries, and Jason hunts some wild boar, while Jenny finds a nice cave, Joshua can spend all his time crafting a new spear.
3.1.6. That’s why a leaders job is to provide safety to his followers, so they can focus on making progress towards their shared vision. The bigger the circle of safety around the group, the faster the progress.
3.1.7. Once you’re not worried about avoiding threats, you can start improving.
3.2. Responsibility means truly caring about other people, so don’t get detached.
3.2.1. Let’s say you manage the finances of your company. In that case, your responsibility might be to “allocate the budget in a way that maximizes profits”.
3.2.2. But in reality, it’s your job to make sure the money goes to the people that will use it the best. Maybe you want to shut down a division.
3.2.3. If so, you’re not only shutting down a part of the company, you’re robbing people of their safety, by firing them from their jobs.
3.2.4. This doesn’t mean you should try to save everyone, but you have to be aware that the consequences of your actions as a leader directly impact the lives of people.
3.2.5. That’s why empathy is the most important trait of a leader.
3.2.5.1. If you can really put yourself into other people’s shoes, you will truly care about them, and thus be worth for them to follow you.
3.2.6. It’s easy to get detached when companies grow, and when that happens the consequences of your actions seem less real. Often leaders will then make decisions at other people’s expenses.
3.2.6.1. For more info on this, check out the Milgram experiment.
3.3. Technology has turned us into performance addicts, looking for the next dopamine hit.
3.3.1. Your dopamine cells reward you for great performance
3.3.2. Companies’ reward systems often work according to the mantra “More is always better.”, but sadly, each new sales record you set will make you feel less happy.
3.3.3. Instead of focusing on lasting value, we change the color of our profile picture on Facebook, or tweet something with a human rights hashtag, and feel really good for completing a task.
3.3.4. This is much easier than actually going out, for example by volunteering, and doing something about it, so our brain will settle for the “Like” on Facebook as a substitute.
3.3.5. This is addicting though and will only make you feel empty inside.
3.3.6. So don’t hope for the next funny cat video
3.3.7. Do something that’s hard instead – you’ll feel a real sense of accomplishment afterwards.