Simon Sinek

Simon Sinek was born in Wimbledon, London, in 1973, and grew up between Johannesburg, London, and Hong Kong before settling in the United States. He studied cultural anthropology at Brandeis University — training as an ethnographer that still shapes how he watches how people and organizations behave — and began his career at the New York advertising agencies Euro RSCG and Ogilvy & Mather before founding his own firm, Sinek Partners.

In 2009 he gave a TEDx talk titled "How Great Leaders Inspire Action." Built around a simple framework he called the Golden Circle — Why, How, What — it argued that the most influential leaders and organizations all communicate from the inside out, starting with why. The talk became one of the most-watched TED talks of all time and turned "start with why" into part of the language of modern leadership.

Sinek has since written a series of bestselling books — _Start With Why_ (2009), _Leaders Eat Last_ (2014, a Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestseller), _Together Is Better_ (2016), _Find Your Why_ (2017), and _The Infinite Game_ (2019). He founded The Optimism Company, a leadership learning-and-development firm, and Optimism Press, a publishing imprint with Penguin Random House. Today his work reaches audiences through live keynotes and workshops, the Leaderful leadership app, WHY School coaching certification, and his popular podcast _A Bit of Optimism_. In 2021 he founded The Curve, an initiative helping forward-thinking police leaders reform their culture from the inside out.

An ethnographer, optimist, and one of the most sought-after leadership voices in the world, Sinek's stated mission is to build "a world in which the vast majority of us wake up inspired, feel safe at work, and return home fulfilled."