Simon Sinek

Sinek was born in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom and as a child lived in Johannesburg, South Africa, London, and Hong Kong before settling in the United States. He graduated from Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest in 1991.[3] He studied law at London's City University, but left law school to go into advertising.[4] He received a BA in cultural anthropology from Brandeis University.[5]

Sinek began his career at the New York ad agencies Euro RSCG and Ogilvy & Mather.[5] He later launched his own business, Sinek Partners.[5]

Simon Sinek's golden circle which describes a perspective of the influence of successful leaders and organisations.

Sinek has written five books. Start With Why, his first book, was published October 2009. His second book, titled Leaders Eat Last, appeared on the bestseller lists of the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.[5]

As a motivational speaker, Sinek has given talks at The UN Global Compact Leaders Summit,[6] and at the TEDx conference.[7]

In June 2018, The Young Turks reported a $98,000 no-bid contract from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for "customized Simon Sinek leadership training" to take place between April 26 and May 15 2018.[8]

Sinek is also an instructor of strategic communications at Columbia University,[9] and is an adjunct staff member of the RAND Corporation.[10]

Sinek started Optimism Press,[11] which is an imprint of Penguin Random House.[12]

In 2018, Michael Schein criticised Sinek, charging: "You will hardly ever hear him give the other side of the story or cite a scientific finding that doesn't support his argument."[13] As an example Schein cited a highly viewed video of a 2016 interview in which Sinek used a "thin" argument to explain "why millennials are such disappointments in the workplace".[13] Nevertheless, Schein concluded that Sinek provides a model for how to "build a feverishly dedicated following" through self-promotion.[13]

• Sinek, Simon (2009). Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. New York: Portfolio/Penguin. ISBN 978-1591846444. OCLC 373054685.
• Sinek, Simon (2014). Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't. New York: Portfolio/Penguin. ISBN 978-1591845324. OCLC 818731578.
• Sinek, Simon (2016). Together Is Better: A Little Book of Inspiration. New York: Portfolio/Penguin. ISBN 978-1591847854. OCLC 957455007.[14]
• Sinek, Simon (2017). Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team. New York: Portfolio/Penguin. ISBN 9781101992982. OCLC 963912431.[15]
• Sinek, Simon (2019). The Infinite Game. New York: Portfolio/Penguin. ISBN 9780735213500. OCLC 1101645201.