Simon Sinek argues that the people we choose as friends and employees directly shape our wellbeing and daily life. Genuine relationships are based on mutual trust, encouragement, and shared purpose ("why"); hiring should be treated like adopting a child — a slow, methodical process to ensure cultural fit and responsibility.
Chapters
We are social animals, and so the people we spend time with will directly impact how we feel, the enjoyment we get out of life. And so the kinds of people we hire and the kinds of people we're friends with, it's important to manage both really carefully. Are you friends with people because they're rich or they're good looking? How good are those relationships? Sure, it's nice to have them stand next to you, and sure, it might be nice to go drive in their nice car now and then, but do you rely on them? Can you trust them? Do they trust you? Do they come to you? Is it a genuine friendship? Or do the only reason you see these people is because you're the only one investing time and energy and seeing them. And they would never call you if you never called them. Those aren't real friendships. Those aren't really fulfilling relationships. When you know why you do what you do, and someone encourages and inspires and pushes you to do those things, and likewise, you want to encourage and inspire someone else for no other reason than you just want to see them successful, that is where a real friendship exists. The same is true at work. I always like to say that hiring somebody at work is like adopting a child, right? How are you going to adopt a child? You're just going to read a resume of what they're like and maybe see what kind of toys they like playing with and what subjects they're good at. And then you're going to say, yeah, I want that kid to join my family. No, it's going to be a slow, methodical process. You want to spend time with the kid, you want to get to know the kid. Don't forget, you're going to let this child into your home. You, you're going to leave them at home by themselves with your stuff. You may even give them responsibility to look after your other children. Well, guess what you do with employees. It's exactly like adopting a child. And the process of letting that person into your culture, into your family, should be slow and methodical so that you can be sure that this person will respect your stuff, be a good part of the family, and even do right by your other kids, by your comrades and fellow employees. It is that important. This is our family that we need to protect. These are our friends. These are the people we spend time with day in and day out. And we need to be really, really careful who we choose to spend our time with.
