43 Great Leaders Eat Last Quotes

Have you ever wondered why some teams successfully tackle nearly impossible tasks while others struggle to get through the day?

I’ve experienced it myself. I’ve been on teams cranking out work at an incredible pace with creativity, passion, and determination. These teams were able to overcome so many obstacles and stay motivated even thorough difficult periods.

On the other hand, I’ve been on teams that can’t seem to communicate, make decisions, or accomplish anything meaningful.

What’s the difference?

New York Times best-selling author Simon Sinek tries to explain that in his book Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t.

Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t

According to Sinek, good teams have good leaders who are willing to place the needs of others above their own. They create an environment of respect, trust, and care.

Successful teams create a circle of trust where each person cares for the others. Each team member feels enough safety to do their best work and take calculated risks, knowing that if they make a mistake, they will be protected by the leader and the group.

I’ve been on many teams throughout my career and can see his theory play out. I’ve been on teams where my boss and co-workers trusted me, assumed the best of my efforts, and had my back if I got into trouble. I was able to take risks, grow quickly, and support my teammates better.

Check out these Leaders Eat Last quotes to build a stronger and more effective team.

Leaders Eat Last Quotes

1. To earn trust, you must extend trust.
2. When we have to protect ourselves from each other, the whole organization suffers.
3. When trust and cooperation thrive, the organization grows stronger.
4. If the people inside the organization feel safe among each other, they will work together to achieve things none of them could have ever achieved alone.
5. Create cultures that inspire people to give all they have to give.

6. A business environment with an unbalanced focus on short-term results and money before people affects society at large.
7. When we struggle to find happiness or a sense of belonging at work, we take that struggle home.
8. Returning from work feeling inspired, safe, fulfilled, and grateful is a natural human right.
9. It’s great people that make the guy at the top look like a genius.
10. As leaders, it is our sole responsibility to protect our people.

11. By creating a circle of safety around the people in the organization, leadership reduces the threats people feel inside the group, which frees them up to focus more time and energy to protect the organization.
12. Only when we feel we are in a circle of safety will we pull together as a unified team better able to survive and thrive.
13. The question is: how safe do you feel at work?
14. When we know that there are people at work that care about how we feel, our stress levels decrease.
15. People who go to work unhappy actually do things to make those around them unhappy too.

16. A supportive and well-managed work environment is good for one’s health.
17. The clearer we can see what we’re setting out to achieve, the more likely we are to achieve it.
18. Whether we like it or not, we need each other.
19. When we find ourselves inside a circle of safety, stress declines, fulfillment rises, our want to serve others increases, and our willingness to trust others to watch our back skyrockets.
20. We can’t feel a sense of accountability to numbers; we can only feel accountable to people.

21. The more we give of ourselves to see others succeed, the greater our value to the group and the more respect they offer us.
22. Those who work hardest to help others succeed will be seen by the group as the leader.
23. The more good things we do, the more we want to do.
24. With trust, we do things for each other, look out for each other, and sacrifice for each other.
25. Leaders are the ones who are willing to give up something of their own for us. Their time, their energy, their money – maybe even the food off their plate.

26. Eating last is repaid with loyalty and hard work.
27. If the leader doesn’t trust the people, the system will fail.
28. We don’t trust rules; we trust people.
29. Our confidence to do what is right is determined by how trusted we feel by our leaders.
30. When a leader embraces their responsibility to care for people instead of caring for numbers, then people will follow, solve problems, and see to it that the leader’s vision comes to life the right way.

31. Just as a parent can’t buy the love of their children with gifts, a company can’t buy the loyalty of their employees with salaries and bonuses.
32. A company of strong character will have a culture that promotes treating all people well, not just the ones who pay them or earn them money in the moment.
33. In a culture of strong character, the people inside the company will feel protected by their leader.
34. When empathy is lacking, aggression, fear, and other destructive actions and feelings dominate.
35. People will respond to the environment in which they operate.

36. In a circle of safety, the people work to protect their leader as a natural response to the protection their leader offers them.
37. When our leaders reveal their gaps in knowledge and missteps, not only are we more willing to help, but we, too, are willing to share when we make mistakes.
38. Integrity is when our words and our deeds are consistent with our intentions. A lack of integrity is, at best, hypocrisy and, at worst, lying.
39. Building trust requires nothing more than telling the truth. That’s it—no complicated formula.
40. The performance of a company is closely tied to the personality and values of the person at the top.

41. The impact of leadership is best judged over time.
42. Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.
43. Leadership is about taking responsibility for lives and not numbers.

Leaders Eat Last Quotes

Great leaders remember that those they lead are human beings with individual goals, worries, and needs. At the same time, we all need safety and community to do our best work.

I hope these quotes inspired you to build trust in your work team by helping someone else, trusting someone else, and creating a circle of safety within your group or organization.

The benefits of operating in this way can be huge — your team members can contribute at their highest levels with creativity and passion. Imagine what you can accomplish together!

And according to Simon Sinek, each member of a safe and happy team will take those good feelings home to benefit their kids, spouse, friends, and their own health.

What a beautiful thing to put out into the world.

Next check out our post on managing your energy for top performance.