Simon Sinek


Simon Oliver Sinek is a British-born American author and motivational speaker. He is the author of five books, including Start With Why and The Infinite Game.

Early life and education

Sinek was born in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom and as a child lived in Johannesburg, South Africa, London, and Hong Kong before settling in the United States. He graduated from Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest in 1991. He studied law at London's City University, but left law school to go into advertising. He received a BA in cultural anthropology from Brandeis University.

Career

Sinek began his career at the New York ad agencies Euro RSCG and Ogilvy & Mather. He later launched his own business, Sinek Partners.
Sinek has written five books. Start With Why, his first book, was published October 2009. His second book, titled Leaders Eat Last, appeared on the bestseller lists of the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
As a motivational speaker, Sinek has spoken at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in 2016, and at TEDx conferences several times, beginning in 2009.
In March 2016, professional services firm Ernst & Young announced a program called "The Why Effect" co-developed with Sinek "to help articulate and support clients' transformation objectives". In June 2018, The Young Turks reported a $98,000 no-bid contract from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for "customized Simon Sinek leadership training" to take place between April 26 and May 15 2018, provided by Ernst & Young.
In November 2018, Publishers Weekly reported that Sinek would start Optimism Press, a new imprint of Penguin Random House.
Sinek is also an instructor of strategic communications at Columbia University, and is an adjunct staff member of the RAND Corporation.

Criticism

In 2018, Michael Schein criticised Sinek, charging: "You will hardly ever hear him give the other side of the story or cite a scientific finding that doesn't support his argument." As an example Schein cited a highly viewed video of a 2016 interview in which Sinek used a "thin" argument to explain "why millennials are such disappointments in the workplace". Nevertheless, Schein concluded that Sinek provides a model for how to "build a feverishly dedicated following" through self-promotion.

Books