The Way We Speak Reveals Our Priorities | Simon Sinek

We speak in the order we think things are important, right? So the next time somebody apologizes to you, or the next time somebody— like, we speak in the order we think that we prioritize information. We can't help it. So pay attention. And so I'm constantly listening to CEOs. Like, I've never met a CEO who doesn't believe their people are important. All of them do. My question is, where on the list, right? Number 1, growth. Number 2, shareholder value. Number 3, You know, our customer. Number 4, our employees. There it is. It's my top 4. That means growth is more important than an employee. You told me. And so, and I went, and when I was researching Mike Duke versus Doug McMillon, and Doug McMillon is the current CEO of Walmart. He's awesome. His predecessor, Mike Duke, literally changed the incentive structures of how he incentivizes store managers to benefit himself at their expense. He put so much pressure on that company to make money. I went to the Walmart shareholder meeting and the head of people stood up and talked about financial growth. Where did that come from? Pressure from the CEO. That's where it came from. Anyway, uh, so just out of curiosity, I went and read the statements the press statements that are written by their internal PR departments, but the CEOs will have a say. I went and read the first statement that Mike Duke put out when he became CEO, and I went and read the first statement that Doug McMillan put out when he became CEO, and something was amazing. Mike Duke's statement, literally word for word, says, um, I'm so excited for us to exceed our financial plans, and we will do it with the, the help of our people. And Doug McMillan says, I'm so excited to take care of our people, and when we do, we will meet and exceed our financial plans. And it literally tells you which—

what they're prioritizing.