Erik: What does it mean to be a leader in what you do?
Simon: To be a leader means one thing and one thing only. It means you have followers.
That's it. You know? It's not about learning your style of leadership and how to adjust
your style to fit the situation at hand, that's management, right? Leaders only have one thing,
they have followers. A follower is somebody who raises their hand and volunteers to go
where you're going. They raise their hand and volunteer to go in the direction that
you're pointing. And so to lead others, means that you have a clear vision of a world that
does not yet exist, a world that could exist, and by articulating that cause, that vision,
that purpose, over and over and over again, it inspires people who believe what you believe,
who want to see that world built, to join, to go with you, to figure out ways, you know?
And so for me in my work, what leadership means, is articulating this world in which
the vast majority of us wake up every single day, inspired to go to work, and come home
every single day fulfilled by the work that we do. That doesn't mean we have to like every
day, you know, but we can love every day. You don't like your children every day but
you love your children every day, right? And so the more I talk about this world that does
not yet exist, because right now the world we live in, the vast majority of people, 90%-plus
don't love what they do, they may like it but they don't love it. When I talk about
this world, it inspires others who believe what I believe and want to see this world
built, join up and figure out in their own way how to advance that vision, so it becomes
real. My role is to continue to pound the pavement and put that vision out there.