5 Rules by Simon Sinek

Blog entry #94

I recently watched Simon Sinek's Talk to Millennials on 'Change your future'. He shared anecdotes with a moral for each (of course) and stated 5 rules to follow.

TL;DR - The 5 rules you must follow:

1. You can get what you want, but you cannot deny anyone else to go after what they want
2. Take accountability for your actions
3. Take care of each other
4. Learn the skill to keep your opinions to yourself
5. You deserve a Styrofoam cup

He started his speech with 'There are two ways to see the world.' The anecdote went as follows: He was standing at a fair with his friend when they saw a number of people forming a line in front of a free bagel stand. While he saw the free bagel, his friend could only see the line. So no matter how many times he repeated 'free bagel' with more emphasis each time, his friend could only stick with 'no, I don't want to wait in line'. So what Simon did was simply walk up to the front of the line, grab two bagels from the 100 that were there and give one to his friend. Here's where he quoted his first rule, where he also mentioned that there are two kinds of people in this world - one, who can only see the obstacles that prevent them from getting what they want and the other, who see what they want and how they can get it (without denying others from getting what they want).

The second anecdote was a short yet powerful one. In the Renaissance period, it was observed that women died 48 hours after giving birth. The surprising and tragic reason for this was that, brace yourselves, doctors did not wash their hands! What's more, they refused to acknowledge this for 30 years. So the underlying message here was that sometimes, you're the problem. Learn to take accountability for your actions. The third one was a simple 'take care of each other' story exemplified by Navy SEALs.

It was amazing how Simon Sinek narrated 5 different anecdotes within a quick 15-minute video to convey the underlying one-line message for each of the tales. Story number 4 talked about Nelson Mandela's father, a tribal chief. Mandela, during his childhood, observed 2 things from his father during meetings - one, they would always sit in a circle, and two, his father was always the last to speak. The rule here is to keep your opinions to yourself, and not nod 'yes' if and when you agree with somebody. I've found this skill important because what happens with me is that if I stop nodding 'yes' after a bout of continuous nodding, the speaker immediately senses that I no longer agree with them on the point they've just made.

Finally, the last story talks about how his friend, when he held a top position at a firm, was given a warm welcome, a car with a driver to have him picked up and dropped to and from the airport, to and from the hotel, and a ceramic cup for him to have his coffee in before his speech. The same set of people, a few years later, had to receive his friend once again, who this time around, held a not-so-high position at his firm. He didn't get a car pickup and drop facility, and for his beverage, all they gave him was a Styrofoam cup! So the lesson here is that the ceramic cup was never for him, it was for the position he held. Similarly, all of us must remember this story about humility and gratitude.

Here's the full speech for those interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l-YpiiBH4o

Same video, but without the bagel story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKJ9-OTbanE