Keynote

Corporate social responsibility

Why good leaders make you feel safe,
Simon Sinek
C1–C2
Discussion
1 Work in groups. Discuss the questions.
1 Why is good leadership important to an organization?
2 Do you think good leaders are born or made?
3 What different styles of leadership are there?
4 What quality do you value most in a leader?

Key words
2 Read hi a f Si Si ek TED Ta k Why good leaders make you feel safe. Match the
words and phrases in bold to their definitions (1 9).
Within the senior ranks of some organizations there are those who are totally ineffective leaders.
They earn disproportionate salaries and violate the deep-seated social contract which defines
true leadership, says management theorist Simon Sinek. So what makes a great leader? Simon
Sinek suggests it s someone ho sets the tone of the organization and institutes policies that
make their employees feel safe. Great leaders do this by reassuring employees that they matter
more than profits and that they are not expendable a big responsibility, especially in tough
economic times. A great leader will sacrifice their own comforts and the tangible results of the
organization to put the safety of their employees first. This safety builds a sense of trust and
cooperation and motivates employees to work tirelessly together to seize opportunities for the
greater good.

1 real, not imagined

____________________
2 approaching a job or task with great energy
____________________
3 hierarchical positions within a group of people or an institution
____________________
4 being protected from risk and danger
____________________
5 something that is strongly established and hard to move or change
____________________
6 gives up or stops doing something that provides pleasure or advantage
____________________
7 not equal in size or volume in relation to something else
____________________
8 break an established rule or cross a sacred boundary
____________________
9 initiates the general character and attitude of something
____________________

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 Corporate social responsibility
Why good leaders make you feel safe

Comprehension
3 Wa ch Si Si ek ak TED c A e hese sentences true (T) or false (F) according to the
speaker?
1 When American and Afghan troops were attacked by surprise, Captain Swenson was awarded a
medal for managing his troops effectively so they could rescue the injured and pull out the dead.
_____
2 Captain Swenson carried the injured soldier back to the helicopter and gave him a kiss. _____
3 In the militar the re ard people ho make sacrifices so that others benefit but in business it s
the other way around. _____
4 When Simon asked the people he calls heroes why they made sacrifices for others, they all
replied that the people who they had helped would have mirrored their behaviour. _____
5 Because the world was a threatening place 50,000 years ago, we protected ourselves by
becoming socially cooperative. _____
6 Businesses can control forces inside and outside the business that negatively affect their workers.
_____
7 If the conditions are wrong in an organization, we are pushed into using our time to protect each
other. _____
8 In the compan Ne t Jump it s impossible to lose our job for doing it badl _____
9 People hate some CEOs from the banking world not because they earn too much money, but
because they seem to have used their position of leadership primarily for personal gain. _____
Bob Chapman s response to the recession as based on the premise of sharing the suffering
equally amongst his employees so no individual suffered badly. _____
11 We disobey and ignore ineffective leaders because e don t respect them _____
12 Real leaders are those who are the first to expose themselves to danger and who go without
something so that their people can benefit. _____

The big idea

4 Work in groups. Discuss the questions.
1 Simon Sinek expresses the analogy that being a great leader is like being a parent. What does he
mean by this? Do you agree / disagree?
2 What is our opinion of Charlie Kim s lifetime emplo ment polic here it is impossible to lose
your job for performance issues? What are the pros and cons of a scheme like this?
3 Simon Sinek says that if the conditions are wrong inside the circle of safety it weakens the
organization. What type of conditions do you think he is talking about, and how would they
weaken the organization?
4 Were you persuaded by his talk? Why? / Why not?

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 Corporate social responsibility
Why good leaders make you feel safe

Language focus trust and cooperation in organizations

5 Complete the text with these words and phrases. Then watch the TED Talk from 3.20 6.28 and
check your answers.
expend frustrate inherent obsolete out of business renders seize
ups and downs variable watched out for

50,000 years ago, in the Palaeolithic era, forces such as severe weather conditions, lack of
resources or even wild animals made the world a very dangerous place. This forced us to
evolve into what Simon Sinek calls the circle of safet here people became cooperati e and
1 2
____________________ each other, creating ____________________ benefits such as
being able to sleep without having to check for danger. According to Simon Sinek, the modern
world is no different. There are threats from things that are attempting to lower our chances of
success, like the 3____________________ of the economy or a technological advancement that
4
____________________ your business model 5____________________, or your competitor
who is occasionally trying to put you 6____________________ and who at the very least is
working determinedly to 7____________________ your growth. These things are here to stay,
but the only 8____________________ forces are the conditions inside an organization where
the leader can establish the way forward. If these conditions are wrong and create a situation
where people inside the organization don t trust their leaders, they are forced to
9
____________________ their own time and energy to shield themselves from one another,
which reduces the strength of the organization. But when we feel secure in an organization,
Simon Sinek believes that we will naturally combine our skills and strengths and work constantly
to deal with the outside dangers and 10____________________ the opportunities.
6 Watch a part (6.58 9.58) of the TED Talk again. Choose the correct options to complete the
summary.
Charlie Kim, the CEO of Next Jump, points out that if your family had hard times, you would
never entertain the idea of 1laying off / paying off your children, and asks why we think about
doing this to employees of the organization. In response to this question, Charlie 2founded /
implemented a lifetime employment policy. This means that even if you perform poorly in your
work, it is impossible for you to get 3get fired / get punished, and instead you receive coaching
and support just as you would as a child within a family. Another example is Bob Chapman
whose manufacturing company took a 30% loss in orders due to the 2008 4recession / inflation.
To a big manufacturing company, this is 5a big deal / a bad deal and meant that the company was
unable to afford the 6labour costs / labour pool. They had to find a way to save 10 million dollars,
so 7the management / the board held a meeting and talked over laying people off. Bob rejected
the idea because he doesn t belie e in 8staff cuts / head counts but does believe in 9staff rights /
heart counts. So they created a 10furlough programme / full-time programme which required all
staff from secretar to CEO to take up to four eeks unpaid acation Bob s attitude as that it s
better that e should all suffer a little than an of us should ha e to suffer a lot As a
consequence, 11morality / morale increased and they saved 20 million dollars.

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 Corporate social responsibility
Why good leaders make you feel safe
Speaking
7 Work in groups. Your company is going to announce a larger-than-normal annual profit. You
are aware that staff morale has been poor in recent years and trust in management is low. Hold
a board meeting to decide what to do with the extra funds to demonstrate to employees that
they matter to the company and to establish greater trust and cooperation within the
company.
8 Present your decision to the class. Then vote for the best idea, or ideas.

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