Simon Sinek tells how a barista named Noah loved his job at the Four Seasons because managers asked if he was okay and offered help, but tolerated another hotel where managers only pointed out mistakes. Leaders build trust by letting people admit mistakes and ask for help without fear of humiliation or career damage.
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How do you build that trusting team? So I'll tell you a funny story. It's a true story that really captures what it means to be on a trusting team. I went on a business trip to Las Vegas and they very generously put me up in the Four Seasons. And the Four Seasons happens to have a coffee bar in the lobby in that hotel. And so one afternoon I went and bought myself a cup of coffee. And the barista working that day was a kid named Noah. Noah was funny and charming and engaging. And I stood there for far too long buying a cup of coffee because I just enjoyed talking to Noah. So as is my nature, I asked Noah, do you like your job? And without skipping a beat, Noah said, I love my job. Now, in my line of work, that's significant. Like is rational. I like the people, I like the challenge. I get paid well. I like my job. Love is emotional. It's a higher order connection. For example, if I ask you, do you love your wife? And you say, I like her a lot, right?
I know there's a difference, right?
And Noah said, I love my job. In other words, he told me he's got a higher order connection, emotional connection to his work. So I immediately followed up and I said, tell me specifically what the Four Seasons is doing that you would even say to me, I love my job. And again, without skipping a beat, he said, throughout the day, managers will walk past me and ask me if I'm okay. Ask me if there's anything that they can do to help me. He said, not just my manager, any manager. And then he said, I also work at another hotel. And there the managers catch us doing things wrong. There, the managers are only concerned about what our performance is. He says, there, I keep my head below the radar, just want to get through the day and collect my paycheck. He said, only at the Four Seasons do I feel I can be myself. Now think about that for a second. This is the exact same human being. And yet our experience of him in one hotel versus the other will be profoundly different. Not because of him, but because. But because of the leadership environment in which he works.
The one with good leadership, he'll be amazing like I experienced. And the one with bad leadership, he'll be terrible. We always think it's the people, but very often it's the leadership environment. And so we've all been. We all know what it feels like to be on a trusting team. We all have been there. It's when you can raise your hand and say, I made a mistake, or I'M having trouble at home and it's affecting my work or you've given me a job and I don't feel trained or qualified for it I need more training or I don't know what I'm doing.
And we say these things with the confidence that our leader or our colleagues will rush in to support us with no fear of humiliation or retribution. That's what it means to be on a trusting team. Unfortunately, we also all know what it means not to be on a trusting team where we would never admit mistakes or say we don't know or say we need help for fear that it will hurt our ability to be promoted or it will be humiliated by somebody in public or somehow jeopardize our careers. And so we keep it to ourselves and eventually things break. It's only the organizations where we can talk about the truth in a supported environment that thrive over time. That's a trusting team and that's one of the primary responsibilities of a good leader is to build an environment in which a trusting team can happen.
