We recently talked about how the altruistic leadership model impacts employees’ performance and a company’s success. But apart from being humble, great leaders make you feel safe.

According to management theorist Simon Sinek, in a recent TED Talk “Why good leaders make you feel safe“, leaders should make employees feel safe in the organisation in order to trigger the feelings of trust and cooperation.

“You see, if the conditions are wrong, we are forced to expend our own time and energy to protect ourselves from each other, and that inherently weakens the organization. When we feel safe inside the organization, we will naturally combine our talents and our strengths and work tirelessly to face the dangers outside and seize the opportunities.”

Good leaders make you feel safe by putting their interests aside for the greater good; by wanting you to achieve more; by helping you when you need it. As he puts it, “Great leaders would never sacrifice the people to save the numbers. They would sooner sacrifice the numbers to save the people”. Isn’t this altruistic?

As he analyses the importance of feeling safe at your job, he gives examples of how some organisations provide safety to their employees and what results they produced. He compares leadership to parenthood, but what stood out to me was the likeness to military life.

In the video below you can watch his whole speech. And in my opinion, these are 12 minutes well spent.

Leadership is a choice; not a rank. Leadership means courage and taking risks. Do not confuse leadership with authority. We never follow authorities, we obey because there’s the element of fear. We follow leaders. And great leaders create trust and make you feel safe.

 

Isn’t that the organization we would all like to work in?