There are two things that Simon Sinek thinks that great leaders need to have: empathy and perspective.

Empathy

Empathy is listening and trying to understand someone’s point of view and disposition.

The real job of a leader is not about being in charge. It’s about taking care of those in our charge.

Great leaders are not responsible for the job. They’re responsible for the people who are responsible for the job. They’re not even responsible for the results.

Millennials turn to cell phones and social media if they get depressed. We have to learn to rely on our friends and that skill is desperately lacking.

Also the young generation has falsely applied the instant gratification model to life fulfillment and career fulfillment.

It’s like “I found love!” No, you didn’t. You work hard every single day to stay in love.

It’s a journey. It’s as if they’re standing at the foot of a mountain. They know exactly what they want. They can see the summit. What they don’t see is the mountain.

They see it as destination.

We’re constantly being told you have to be vulnerable.

What vulnerability means is you create an environment in which someone feels safe enough to raise their hand and said I don’t know what I’m doing.

Perspective

It’s the leaders and the companies that understand the game that they’re in and organize their resources and their decision-making around the infinite contest that outlast and frustrate their competition.

In game theory, there are two kinds of games: finite games and infinite games. A finite game is defined as known players fixed rules and an agreed upon objective. A infinite game is defined as known and unknown players the rules are changeable and the objective is to keep the game in play to perpetuate the game.

Problems arise when you pit a finite player versus an infinite player because if a finite player is playing to win and an infinite player is to playing to keep the game going. One is obsessed with their competition, the other is obsessed with why they do, what they do, where they’re going.

Infinite players are competing against themselves. How do they find new solutions to advance their calling, cause, and belief are why every single day.

Every single bankruptcy, almost every merger and acquisition is basically a company saying: we no longer have the will or the resources to continue to play, and we have no choice to either drop out of the game or merge our resources with another player so that we can stay in the game.

Simon Sinek 認為偉大的領導者必須擁有同理心和觀點。

同理心

同理心是指傾聽並嘗試理解他人的觀點和性格。

偉大的領導者不對工作負責，甚至也不對結果負責，而是對負責工作的人負責。

千禧世代感到沮喪時會透過手機和社交媒體尋求慰藉。我們必須學會依靠朋友，但大部分的人都缺乏這項技能。

此外，他們誤以為自我實現和事業成就也都應可即時獲得滿足。

這就像某人可能會宣稱「我找到了真愛！」，但事實上你必須每天努力付出，才能讓自己活在幸福之中。

這是一個過程。就像我們站在山腳下且確切知道自己的目的地，但只看得到山峰，對整座山視而不見。

領導者必須鼓勵示弱，創造足以讓人勇於承認錯誤和無知的安全環境。

觀點

領導者和企業瞭解其所身處的賽局，並在無止盡的競爭中運用資源和決策，讓自己歷久不敗。

賽局理論中存在兩種賽局：包含已知參與者和固定規則的有限賽局，以及包含已知/未知參與者且可改變規則的無限賽局。其中無限賽局的目標無關輸贏，而是讓賽局永續進行。

抱持有限觀點的參與者執著於競爭，一心只想要贏。抱持無限觀點的參與者則與自己競爭；專注於自己的信念、作為和方向；將信念視為每天持續進步的原動力；想要讓賽局繼續進行。因此，當這兩種參與者互相競爭時，問題就這樣發生了。

基本上，幾乎每個破產、兼併和收購事件都表示某間公司喪失繼續參與其中的意願或資源，只能選擇退出或合併自己及其他參與者的資源才得以繼續。