Book Review

By Douglas G . Jackson

JULY / AUGUST 2022

32

“ Leadership is not about being in charge . Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge .” ¹

Often , we think of being ‘ the boss ’ as the person in charge . Yet , when we put people first , businesses tend to have better results overall . ²

As the son of psychologist R . Jeffrey (“ Jeff ”) Jackson , Ph . D ., I have always been interested in leadership . My father taught at the United States Air Force Academy and also taught a graduate program focused on leadership . Ultimately , his interest in leadership helped me when I began my own law firm . His interest in leadership inspired me to learn as much about leadership that I possibly can because I know that it will help my law firm ’ s growth . I encourage every lawyer to learn as much as possible about leadership because all lawyers are leaders in their communities . People seek lawyers for guidance in solving the toughest problems .

One book that I highly recommend for anyone interested in leadership is Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek . This is an easy read , with numerous anecdotal stories to help drive home Sinek ’ s points and research . The book articulates the most important soft skills that all great leaders exude ; those same soft skills can also make us great leaders if practiced .

Sinek ’ s book begins with the basics : how the human body reacts to different events . Sinek specifically discusses the biological reactions to stimuli . Our bodies produce endorphins , dopamine , serotonin , and oxytocin . Endorphins mask pain ; it ’ s the runner ’ s high that you get . Dopamine makes you feel happy ; it ’ s the goal achieving chemical in our bodies that you feel when you cross something off of your to-do list . Both endorphins and dopamine are short-term chemicals that , over time , make us more selfish , not selfless . We become addicted to them and strive for more , even at the expense of others . This can be bad for the workplace . However , there are selfless chemicals , too : serotonin and oxytocin .

Serotonin increases the feeling of leadership and responsibility ; it ’ s the feeling we get when we have public recognition , which is why it ’ s so important to have public recognition of achievements with our team . Oxytocin is the chemical of trust and love , that is produced when we work together . This makes us more generous and healthier . It makes us happy . Leaders should be trying to produce as much oxytocin as possible in the workplace .

There is another chemical : cortisol . Cortisol is the chemical of stress . Stress helped early humans survive . It turns off things like growth and the immune system . The production of cortisol in our bodies was necessary for early humans to survive because it would force the body to focus on only the functions that would allow the best chance of survival when being chased by a predator , as an example . However , times have changed . Cortisol can be good for short durations . Yet , prolonged periods of stress , and likewise , prolonged periods of cortisol production , can wreak havoc on us . It can wreak havoc on our businesses when our employees are under prolonged stress because they won ’ t be happy , they won ’ t grow , and in turn , our businesses won ’ t grow .

To combat this cortisol production in the workplace , and to promote the production of serotonin and oxytocin , Sinek discusses circles of safety . That ’ s what all great leaders need to create . A metaphoric circle where those in our charge feel safe . We are always trying to expand that circle .

After discussing the basic biological , human reaction to fear versus safety , Leaders Eat Last goes on to discuss leadership more specifically . Sinek discusses the difference between shortterm leadership and long-term leadership .

Sinek looks very closely at Jack Welch and General Electric . Welch is a well known former CEO of General Electric , but he would terminate the bottom ten percent of the workforce every year . This doesn ’ t create a circle of safety , and this doesn ’ t even create the best results . Putting people before profit produces the best performance . The companies that put people first , also have the most sustainably profitable results . In fact , Sinek looks at General Electric versus Costco pointing out that Costco ’ s performance is sustainably good , whereas General Electric was very much up and down . The results speak for themselves , and Sinek is really just articulating what behaviors leaders should exude to achieve those results .

Sinek titled his book Leaders Eat Last because he noticed that Marine Corps Officers would eat after the enlisted soldiers . This is a circle of safety . This leadership is not about taking charge , but rather taking care of those in your charge . This is why leaders eat last .

Douglas (“ Doug ”) Jackson is the owner of The Law Firm of Douglas G . Jackson , P . A . His practice areas include business law and litigation and estate planning . His practice also includes representing disabled veterans .

1 . Simon Sinek (@ simonsinek ), Twitter ( Jan . 28 , 2015 , 2:02PM , https :// twitter . com / simonsinek / status / 560513329148723202 .

2 . See Rasmus Hougard , The Power of Putting People First , Forbes . com ( Mar . 5 , 2019 ) https :// www . forbes . com / sites / rasmushougaard / 2019 / 03 / 05 / thepower-of-putting-people-first .