Leaders Eat Last：Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t

Whydoonlyafewpeoplegettosay“Ilovemyjob”?Itseemsunfairthatfindingfulfillmentatworkislikewinningalottery;thatonlyafewluckyonesgettofeelvaluedbytheirorganizations，tofeelliketheybelong.Imagineaworldwherealmosteveryonewakesupinspiredtogotowork，feelstrustedandvaluedduringtheday，thenreturnshomefeelingfulfilled.Thisisnotacrazy，idealizednotion.Today，inmanysuccessfulorganizations，greatleadersarecreatingenvironmentsinwhichpeoplenaturallyworktogethertodoremarkablethings.InhistravelsaroundtheworldsincethepublicationofhisbestsellerStartwithWhy，SimonSineknoticedthatsometeamswereabletotrusteachothersodeeplythattheywouldliterallyputtheirlivesonthelineforeachother.Otherteams，nomatterwhatincentiveswereoffered，weredoomedtoinfighting，fragmentationandfailure.Why?TheanswerbecameclearduringaconversationwithaMarineCorpsgeneral.“Officerseatlast，”hesaid.SinekwatchedasthemostjuniorMarinesatefirstwhilethemostseniorMarinestooktheirplaceatthebackoftheline.What’ssymbolicinthechowhallisdeadlyseriousonthebattlefield：greatleaderssacrificetheirowncomfort—eventheirownsurvival—forthegoodofthoseintheircare.Thisprinciplehasbeentruesincetheearliesttribesofhuntersandgatherers.It’snotamanagementtheory;it’sbiology.Ourbrainsandbodiesevolvedtohelpusfindfood，shelter，matesandespeciallysafety.We’vealwayslivedinadangerousworld，facingpredatorsandenemiesateveryturn.Wethrivedonlywhenwefeltsafeamongourgroup.Ourbiologyhasn’tchangedinfiftythousandyears，butourenvironmentcertainlyhas.Today’sworkplacestendtobefullofcynicism，paranoiaandself-interest.ButthebestorganizationsfostertrustandcooperationbecausetheirleadersbuildwhatSinekcallsaCircleofSafetythatseparatesthesecurityinsidetheteamfromthechallengesoutside.TheCircleofSafetyleadstostable，adaptive，confidentteams，whereeveryonefeelstheybelongandallenergiesaredevotedtofacingthecommonenemyandseizingbigopportunities.AshedidinStartwithWhy，Sinekillustrateshisideaswithfascinatingtruestoriesfromawiderangeofexamples，fromthemilitarytomanufacturing，fromgovernmenttoinvestmentbanking.Thebiologyisclear：whenitmattersmost，leaderswhoarewillingtoeatlastarerewardedwithdeeplyloyalcolleagueswhowillstopatnothingtoadvancetheirleader’svisionandtheirorganization’sinterests.It’samazinghowwellitworks.