TED Video: Simon Sinek <3s Himself
By now, if you are a white person with pseudo-intellectual tendencies in the United States, you might be familiar with TED conferences. TED is the closest thing non-hybrid Americans will ever come to stumble upon an intellectual concept outside of college.
I was listening to Simon Sinek’s TED talk earlier today, and I couldn’t help but to feel uncomfortable. Simon (born in England) is this quasi-intellectual who rode on the wave of fame and fortune with the success of his one book: “Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action.” Simon sure has created a name for himself talking about leadership. His main idea is the concept of the “golden circle” that illustrates (in a similar way to Dante’s hell) the levels of human understanding inside a metaphorical circle. In the very center we have the “why,” in the second level is the “how,” and the outer level is all about the “what.” He states that effective communication focuses on the “why,” and he expands from there.
What’s problematic about Simon is that, even though the premise of his talk is the “why,” I can never understand why he’s doing this. His motivation seems to be more about the “what.” He is all about finding results for the sake of results. As an effervescent salesman he tries to repackage an old marketing concept by throwing in a couple of buzz words like “leaders” and “action” to make his ideas pop. But his lack of sincerity is apparent, and can be appreciated in many of the comments users have written in the TED website. Simon seems to be more in love with himself and his empty rhetoric, than with the ideas he’s “spreading.” In his talk, he doesn’t focus on the applications of leadership and simply offers a template for mental manipulation of the masses. At least Machiavelli was less hypocritical when writing The Prince. Simon sounds more like an Apple Fanboy trying to rationalize his love for good marketing.
What really ticked me off though is how he brings up the Law of Diffusion of Innovation, just after he’s talking about virtuous leadership. He contextualizes this law inside the realm of consumption and standing in line for hours to get a new iPhone. Seriously? Is this his interpretation of leadership? Simon is giving a gold star to all those people who are followers. Just because you are an early adopter, that doesn’t mean you are less of a follower than the late adopters. In fact, some might say that weak minds who are more easily manipulated are the ones adopting early technologies. He is grouping in the same metaphor Martin Luther King Jr.’s supporters and bored bourgeois with a surplus.
Is this really what contemporary intellectuals are getting off on nowadays?
Such fire, Alex. I adore it.
The inmates have taken over the asylum. Let’s start with school. Just look at how stupid the curriculum is. There is no cohesion, and no purpose, and this is intentional. We don’t want an “intellectual elite” that is actually, well, intelligent. We want docile worker bees inculcated into slavish mindlessness, rules by emotions and by appetite. Our modern day intelligentsia is a fraud par excellence.
TED takes it a step further by catering to the dregs of the barrel, to the weak-minded snobs and morons who have too much purchasing power for their own and the common good. It is sophistry exalted.
Well said. Simon Sinek is a fraud. He does not know anything about leadership, but he sure does know how to gas. Pity the feeble minded people who cannot tell the difference between truth and gas that sit in the audience and clap for him.
I work as a student employee in a university IT department. Our boss showed this video for our pointless 3+ hour long meeting we had recently. I am not excited about the outcome these ideas have on people like me. I work this job for a paycheck, everyone knows this in the student employee department. Our boss has taken this bull crap and tried to apply to a bunch of studnet employees! We don’t care that much about IT! We just need money to get through college! This is the third employer i’ve had that as had this craptacular philosophy. It’s really annoying. Why can’t work be work? Why is there this push to make every business be my family, home-away-from-home? It’s so stupid.
I’m not an intellectual. Just your average joe trying to get by, but even I see this talk given by Sinek as severly flawed. Most businesses don’t need a religious following or religious employees. Look at McDonalds and Wal-mart, both EXTREMELY successful, moreso than apple and neither of them give a flying crap about this philosophy. They focus on the “what” and do just fine.
Anyway, that’s my rant.
Their WHY is not my WHY, or it’s not a student’s WHY.
That’s why other company’s WHY doesn’t work for you or me
If those posers on TED were really so intelligent, they’d be writing works equivalent to Dante’s Inferno and not merely referencing them. They’re no less than parasites attached to the educated, but feeble-minded, while riding on the coattails of those men of actual accomplishment.