Review of
Instaread Summary of Leaders Eat Last Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by
Simon Sinek
Five out of five stars
The theme of
the book is clear from this summary, to be successful, treat your employees
well and don’t resort to layoffs as a way to boost the profit margin. It is
also correctly pointed out that in the heady days after World War II when the
United States was unchallenged economically, layoffs were a rare occasion and
largely temporary.
However, it is
also clear that the book does not truly face up to what is the modern reality,
companies face intense global competition and must be able to react quickly in
order to survive. Activist investors will not hesitate to attack the leadership
of a company if in their opinion they are not delivering “appropriate” shareholder
value. One adaptation to this new reality is the development of what is called “the
gig economy,” where employees sign on for the completion of a project rather
than for the long-term. In this case, when they leave it is technically not a
layoff but the completion of an employment contract.
I found this
summary to be an accurate statement of what are idealistic but often unrealistic
principles of business management. Reality can be an ugly thing that has no
mercy and the appeal to the past is not
based in any way on how global realities have changed. While I agree that
employees should be treated as humans with emotions and uncertainties, most modern
work environments are generally inherently stressful. There is nothing in the
foreseeable future that will change that.
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