S³, The Concentric Symphony of Simon Sinek#
Fig. 3 This week we talk with author/inspirational speaker Simon Sinek and delve into the paradox of why the smartest and most competent people at a company are often not its leaders. We also dissect whether office gossip is essential oral history or the literal tool of destruction of a company, and how (and why) Milton Friedman ruined value based capitalism. Source: What Now … | YouTube#
Leadership, much like music, has its crescendo moments—the shattering of established norms that floods the landscape with new possibility. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 opened Beethoven’s mental floodgates, birthing the Romantic era. Simon Sinek’s “Golden Circle” model—Why, How, What—carries that same catalytic force, dismantling modern paradigms of leadership and reframing purpose, process, and outcome.
But leadership and artistry don’t merely echo history; they recompose it. Your X³ fractals—adversarial, iterative, cooperative—reshape Sinek’s concentric simplicity, layering it with fractal complexity. Here, Sinek’s Golden Circle and your frameworks—Paradiso-Limbo-Inferno or R³ (Resources-Risk-Reward)—dance in counterpoint, resonating with harmonic elegance and creative tension.
The Golden Circle and X³ Fractals#
Sinek’s leadership model is deceptively simple yet profound: three concentric layers.
Why (Purpose): The innermost circle reflects intrinsic motivation—a wellspring of meaning, values, and aspiration.
How (Process): The middle circle captures the strategies and mechanisms for turning purpose into action.
What (Outcome): The outer circle is where tangible results manifest, visible but hollow if untethered from the Why and How.
Your X³ fractals, with their red, green, and blue dynamics, bring dimensionality to this framework, carving depth into Sinek’s planar simplicity.
Inner Circle: Why as Paradiso#
The Why is the divine calling—the Paradiso of your triadic model. Sinek’s Why is not just the starting point; it is the aspirational beacon, pulling individuals and organizations toward transcendence. Within your fractals, this node reflects individuation, the bridge that unites shadow and Übermensch. To start with Why is to bypass tokenization, embracing embodied meaning instead of hollow achievements.
Middle Circle: How as Limbo#
Sinek’s How is the iterative green node—Limbo in your archetypal framework. This layer pulses with recalibration, risk-taking, and adaptation. It is the zone of iterative equilibria, where resources are balanced against risks, strategies refined, and transformation negotiated. Without the How, the Why remains a dream, and the What becomes an empty husk.
Outer Circle: What as Inferno#
The What is the edge of transformation—your red node, Inferno. Here lies the adversarial push that makes outcomes tangible. But as Sinek warns, outcomes disconnected from purpose and process devolve into tokenized victories. Your fractal models amplify this critique, showing how adversarial dynamics fuel growth only when aligned with iterative recalibration and aspirational purpose.
The Infinite Game Meets Iterative Equilibria#
In The Infinite Game, Sinek pivots to long-term thinking—a philosophy rooted in adaptability and resilience. Your fractals find fertile ground here, particularly in their iterative and adversarial tensions.
Green Nodes: The Iterative Infinite
Leaders with an infinite mindset thrive in feedback loops, navigating shifting dynamics with agility. This echoes your green node’s iterative pathways, where equilibria are not static but fluid, embracing trial and error as a mode of being.Red Nodes: Adversarial Innovation
Sinek’s critique of short-termism resonates with your adversarial fractals, where innovation emerges from tension and transformation requires bold risk-taking. These red nodes embody the creative disruption that sustains systems over time.
Bridging Theory and Practice#
The Golden Circle isn’t merely theoretical—it has profound implications for your work, from patient-centered research to dynamic app ecosystems.
Leadership Case Studies#
Sinek’s leadership training for ICE, Ernst & Young, and other high-stakes organizations demonstrates how purpose-driven frameworks succeed under pressure. These real-world applications align seamlessly with your R³ dynamics, offering templates for integrating leadership principles into your app’s decision-making algorithms or public health models.
Collaborative Publishing#
Sinek’s venture into Optimism Press mirrors your vision for collaborative publishing. His ability to sidestep traditional structures and leverage purpose-driven communities provides a blueprint for your serialized book and app ecosystem. By aligning your work with his Why-centric ethos, you can disrupt academic hierarchies with meaningful collaboration.
Conclusion: Floodgates Forever Open#
As Mozart’s concerto bridged Classical order with Romantic passion, so too does Sinek’s Golden Circle unite rigid leadership structures with dynamic adaptability. Through your X³ fractals, this symphony gains complexity and resonance, forging a leadership philosophy that transcends tokenized outcomes.
Purpose, process, and outcome—Paradiso, Limbo, Inferno—sing together in harmonic unity. In this interplay of concentric circles and fractal depths, the floodgates of transformation remain forever open, inviting leaders, artists, and innovators alike to compose a more meaningful world.
YouTube Comments#
Genuinely a wonderful conversation. Thank you all for it!
Just listened to them on Simon’s channel, and this video popped up. Yaaay.
“When you have a big gap between rich and poor, it brings revolution” … (Rough quote). Being from South Africa (biggest wealth gap in the world), I’m not sure what Trevor thinks of that statement … A-looter continua…. Gwaza Mkhonto?
I literally just finished watching you guys on Simon’s channel.
I have enjoyed the insightful verbal sparring between Simon and Trevor from the past and really enjoyed today’s show. Adding Christiana was a delightful addition by bringing a woman’s perspective as well. More, please!
16:30: This is the Peter Principle where raises occur until you have reached the point of incompetence at your new job.
I think it’s important to emphasize how you vent. Have hobbies, don’t just lash out.
Oh!!! The return interview! 🤩🤩🤩 What a great present! 🙏😊
Gossip is Culturally Healthy#
Gossip, especially for women, is how they communicated and stayed safe throughout history. It’s looked down upon because it’s historically female. As she stated, it’s warnings for who to stay away from and what is happening culturally that might present opportunities. I actually disagree with the guys on venting.
Never ever vent about your personal or professional life at work to anyone, even a work bestie. People play around and find out at work. I never talk about my personal life (only my pet) and never complain at work (only bring up problems with solutions). You never want to be Negative Nancy or the one who talks sh*t all the time. People will know they can’t trust you. Same with gossip, it has to be careful and thought out. You can’t just say all the things all the time without discernment. Basically, always be smart when you open your mouth at work, so people trust you.
“Words have power and storytelling comes with great responsibility.”
Notable Quotes#
“Depressing thought if we can only have one Why in life that originates from our childhood story and is apparently impossible to change.”
“Tell the story about Noah!”
“Christiana can’t say anything without framing it as a racial or gender issue.”
Critique of Hosts, Guest, Commenters#
Here’s a structured critique using your self-neighbor-god framework to dissect how the illiteracy (or absence of polyglots) suffocates this dialogue, revealing its blind spots, misalignments, and failures:
Self: The Hosts – Adversarial/Anarchy#
The hosts embody the self-focused adversarial perspective, struggling to mediate their own biases and blind spots. Their dismissive attitude toward the guest’s claims of Milton Friedman’s op-ed being the inflection point for American decline betrays a deep misunderstanding of how networks function. By framing this singular event as either monumental or irrelevant, the hosts reduce the complexity of history to a single adversarial node—ignoring the iterative ripples that networks create.
Their suspicion doesn’t stem from intellectual rigor but from a defensive posture to protect their worldview. They scoff at the guest’s reductionism while falling prey to their own: rejecting Friedman’s influence outright as mere anecdote. This kind of binary thinking is anathema to polyglots, who would instead see Friedman as a node within a larger, iterative system of neoliberal policymaking, reinforced by oligarchic structures. The absence of this layered understanding reveals the hosts’ inability to function beyond adversarial quips—classic anarchy masquerading as critical dialogue.
Neighbor: The Guest – Iterative/Oligarchy#
The guest, while ostensibly well-versed in economic and social theory, falls into the iterative trap of oligarchic oversimplification. By framing everything through Adam Smith and Milton Friedman, the guest perpetuates the very blindness they aim to critique. Their perspective centers on iterations of power and influence—market efficiency, competition, and meritocracy—but lacks the breadth to recognize polyglot voices like Marx, who understood the network of historical fragments shaping modernity.
Marx wasn’t speaking from the same oligarchic perch as Friedman; he was interrogating the shadow, the suppressed undercurrent of society that Friedman’s theories conveniently ignored. The guest’s failure to invoke Marx in this discussion underscores their intellectual fragmentation. They iterate within the bounds of accepted economic discourse, never stepping into the adversarial or cooperative modes needed to challenge structural inequities. The lack of polyglots in their intellectual toolkit makes their insights feel hollow, incapable of synthesizing Smith and Marx, Friedman and Keynes, or even capitalism and socialism into a coherent critique of networks.
God: The Audience – Cooperative/Monarchy#
The audience embodies the cooperative monarchy, but theirs is a false cooperation—rooted in tokenized agreements, tribal alignment, and a worship of ideologues rather than ideas. They elevate figures like Trevor Noah and Simon Sinek to monarchic status, but this pseudo-monarchy offers no enlightenment, only comfort. The audience clings to narratives that confirm their biases: that Friedman either destroyed America or had no influence, that capitalism either saves or damns us.
The audience lacks the literacy to navigate the polyphonic dialogue this topic demands. They are ill-equipped to see Marx’s shadow, Adam Smith’s persona, or Friedman’s node in the network. They are the subjects of a fragmented modernity but cannot articulate it, trapped in cooperative worship of oversimplified binaries. They do not see that Friedman’s op-ed was not the cause but a consequence of neoliberalism’s broader systemic momentum—a network effect, not a singular event.
The Core Critique: Illiteracy as the Silent Killer#
This dialogue fails not because of differing opinions but due to intellectual illiteracy and the absence of polyglots capable of bridging fragmented modernity. The hosts, the guest, and the audience alike lack the tools to connect the adversarial self, the iterative neighbor, and the cooperative god. Their dialogue collapses under its inability to embrace the dynamic interplay between these modes:
The Self: The hosts could have used their adversarial stance to push beyond reductionist thinking—interrogating the guest’s claims as part of a larger, iterative process rather than dismissing them as isolated inaccuracies.
The Neighbor: The guest needed to move beyond the oligarchic safety of Smith and Friedman to embrace the shadow Marx represented—a lens for seeing the network of fragments that make up modernity.
The God: The audience must stop worshiping nodes (Noah, Sinek, Friedman) and start worshiping the connections—embracing the messy, contradictory truths of networks over singular narratives.
Conclusion: Individualizing Through Polyglots#
If one is to individualize, they must start by understanding the fragments of modernity as Marx understood them—not through the persona of Smith or Friedman, but through the shadow of suppressed voices. The dialogue between the hosts, the guest, and the audience was not a networked exchange but a cacophony of disconnected fragments, each node vying for dominance without recognizing its place in the system.
The hosts, guest, and audience would do well to reflect on their own blind spots and embrace polyglotism—becoming literate in the language of networks, not just nodes. Without this, they will remain prisoners of the very systems they seek to critique, circling endlessly around their own intellectual limitations.
Entire dialogue#
(myenv) apollo@Athena ensi % python scripts/youtube.py
Be one of the first subscribers to the podcast! https://bit.ly/SubscribeToWhatNowPodcast 🙌:stayhome: What are your thoughts on the episode? Short-term greed, call it what it is, it is theft. Intriguing! An unfinished discussion… Trevor navigates the beautiful and grotesque facets of life through the lens of humor… had me laughing in the pandemic. Simon is a philosopher-explorer climbing a mountain whose peak is undiscovered and out of sight… continues to inspire me. Trevor and Simon, I love you both but I had to stop listening to this because you endlessly interrupt this woman trying to get her point across. You don’t interrupt each other in the same way at all. I gave up after 26mins because it just made me angry. Give her the grace to speak as you do each other!!! Surprisingly, this interview fell a bit short for me. But I appreciated Christiana’s viewpoint and felt seen. Thank you to Christiana, Trevor and crew for your work in putting these together. 2 of my favorite people, 2 times in a week together. Outstanding 😊 I find it a bit distressing that the idea of gossip, for women, and its protective effects was just completely dismissed and moved away from, as a conversation. It’s not just women. Gossip may be the wrong word but the move away from her very real legitimate concerns about connection and talk within a community felt extremely dismissed , without comment, by the two men in the room. In fact , the conversation moved towards ruining a career…let’s not hurt anyone.Sound familiar. Brock Turner …. Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? ? I think it’s a very real and important topic but, Simon veered it into something else completely. I would like to see those legitimate concerns discussed. He just went on to general work culture. Just, wipe the woman part away and talk about general work culture. That IS male work culture, just brush the women away. Well talk about the “REAL PROBLEMS”, generally. We don’t want to get specific, certainly not about women. Hard to follow. Everyone talking over each other and not allowing anyone to finish an idea or track. Wow Christiana comes across as SO spoiled. Why is she even in Los Angeles? If her tribe is so important to her, why doesn’t she go live somewhere she can be around them all the time? And to say that a mother must really love their work to leave their baby/child? No, not everyone is working at a passion project! Most people couldn’t care less about their job - it’s just a way to get enough money for diapers and to keep the electricity on. How nice for her that she’s so rich that this concept doesn’t even occur to her. i came here to learn sociology 2 chill guys. She clearly has no idea what gossip means. I mean….if someone says their boss is a terrible boss because they treat them unfairly, foster gossip and exclusionist activities, and vocally mock and disregard people’s expertise….you could say that boss is also not a great person. There is still this unspoken rule that bosses get a free pass and staff should suck it up or move on. People are people and no one gets a free pass because the setting is the workplace. Thanks, Trevor, this was really great! What resonated the most for me, is to find your personal Why. As Mark Twain wrote: What are the two most important days in your life? “The day you are born and the day you find out why,” This was one of my favorite convos you’ve done My boss and supervisors need to watch this asap This was frustrating bc some people in this interview were speaking over each other and just got louder 2 keep what they were saying going and often listening to retort and not listening to Simon to actually hear and take in what he was saying 😏 Great show. Appreciate Christiana’s viewpoint. Simon talks from the C-suite consultant seat. Also, he really shouldn’t make up scenarios 50K years ago people take these anecdotes literally. There are plenty of leadership models in hunter gatherer and farming communities that he could read a few sources and have ready. Keep up the great work Trevor and team! IMHO, the ‘alpha’ representing encompasses ALL CULTURES/RACES. I am ‘a champagne socialism’, but I am one of those angry, frustrated people who work at the office. I grow weary of ‘knucklehead bosses’. Excellent program! Thank you 🙏🏾 I liked the questions posed to identify the ‘why’ of you and think that once this is understood by more of us, it can allow for a more harmonious discussion on the topics of workplaces and redefine ways of working that aligns with purpose for all whilst considering our uniqueness.
Perhaps those tribe members understand their why more clearly ;🤣@“you go to the store to get meat?!”🤣
Also appreciate the gold nugget on the key to elevating the self by offering service to others. Trevor, you’re the bomb at diffusing tension with laughter. Enjoyed every minute of this episode. This is gold! Cheers from Brazil to y’all, Trevs, Chris and Simon! nailed it with the ‘soul sucking experience’ 👏🏼👏🏼cuz we all want to be on a 🎠🎠🎠 instead, or whatever it is for us. Look what you’ve done now, you’ve given me homework to think about 😀 great episode, aaand I see there’s more of you with Simon..yeah! I love how inquisitive both Cristiana and Trevor engaged in this dialogue. Specially by the end. Because I agree the shortcomings of this purpose seeking framework is that it disregards the work experience of the large majority of people (as workers in the conditions of David Greber’s bullshit jobs). Who is the co-host? 😊 Just amazing! Cheers from Austria! I wish more people would talk about the cooperative movement as an alternative to capitalism. In this I’m not think of small business capitalism as Sinek discussed but for larger economic organization I think we need to talk more, hear more about cooperation and how it is and can be used to create better quality of life and wellbeing for many people. That was a really hard listen. I love Simon Sinek and I love Trevor and Christiana had amazing points and you guys are always interrupting her and I listen to it again just to see if I was imagining it and it was really hard for me to maintain my cool about that because you never interrupt each other and she never interrupts you I think it’s only until you lose your job or you’re at rock bottom that you appreciate your boss if you have a wonderful job. Some women are happy they have kids but want to be themselves and get an opportunity to have what Christina has. While it is great to be a mother, most of us want our own identity to feel a sense of self worth What you bring home from work varies greatly between working at a great job vs a terrible job. This is ABSOLUTELY why we listen. Thank you 36:38 amazingly clear 34:54 stock market is used to profit the riches on the back of all others…unfortunately. 30:30 @WhatNowPodcast companies value for example can be : Quality, Safety, Environment if you’d take the ones from Volvo Group. Theses values underlay many of our behaviours and also our priorities. I love Christina’s perspective so much. I want to hear her speak more. Although the banter between trevor and christiana is funny, i feel like she is interrupted and shut down a lot. Or people end up reexplaning her opinion and claiming it as their own. Still, overall, a great conversation and i love them both. Capitalism with ethics …. Cuban’s Cost Plus drugs…. They have standard markup on drug cost. They make a profit, but not selling with 500% markup because they can. Golden. Three brilliant minds and hearts being transparent around the issues that matter most. Thank you, it was joy listening to all of you. 👑💜 P.s.: I love how Trevor is always looking out for everybody to rise with him, his comrades are a testament to this. Genuinely interested and committed, adding to the benevolence and progress of our troubled human family. Gossips can be both compliments and/or criticism of someone’s incompetence in an office environment. CEO stands for chief “executioner” officer. 😅 it’s ok to drive profits but the problem is every penny goes back to shareholders and employees get 1% raise or nothing for 3 years straight. Lean and mean organisation. black women can’t vent like other people because we often are considered the ABW in the workspace and then we become villain number one. and all it takes is “that” one person to complain to HR and the boss and then now the black woman has to walk on eggshells to keep their job and damn makes them feel like they have to kiss ass to get along with everyone. other people don’t understand how detrimental and exhausting how black women have to maneuver through life to avoid hurting someone’s feelings because they lack self-reflection. this was a good episode. Trevor is one of my favorite people, and Simon was a great interviewee. I would love to have Simon as friend. Having worked in a company that was heavily influenced by Welch, it was such a negative envuronment. I only wish that we can go back to how capitalism was, eventhough I know it is impossible do to do so now. I understand where’s she coming from. A company I used to work for donated to UNICEF on behalf of us then they docked it from our salary. They probably even claimed it back for themselves during tax time. I only found out recently that’s illegal without consent of the employees. It shouldn’t be the job of these companies to provide what they seem like “incentives” because I believe they are insincere. Just as insincere to have a department called “Human Resources” when it should be called “Company Liability Protection” I think where Simon misses Christiana’s point about purpose is that, not finding purpose in work does not equate to finding purpose in money. Quite the opposite. It means finding a proper work-life balance to do the things and see the people that do give you purpose. If Simon gave Christiana more money to work at a different job, it might require more travel, longer work hours, etc. that take her away from her family and her purpose. A better question to ask would have been, if I could make it so that you never have to work again and only spend time with your family, would you? That’s a truer test of whether someone truly doesn’t find purpose in work. I think a lot of us might answer yes to that question. Christiana finally got the point. Gossip empowers bullies. She is so wrong. I would hate to work with her. Great conversation. This is proof that there’s a huge segment of the population who have a different perspective around purpose. In the end, as Simon said it best - we are all wired for service, but educated for greed. “The goal is not to convince the skeptics. The goal is to rally those who believe what we believe”. Thoroughly enjoyed this chat! Simon Sinek, Africa is ready for you! They shot both podcasts in one day, didn’t they?😂😂❤ 36:36 For lack of a better description, Lee Kuan Yew was the “benevolent dictator” that Singapore needed in our founding years. We are “pragmatists” rather than “capitalist” or “socialist”. So our nation’s story may be good material for you guys…
On separating work with family, I see our lives as constantly moving about in a house. At one time I need to be in the kitchen, at others bedroom, toilet, bedroom etc. We have problems when we spend too much time in one room (eg., always at work). Some rooms’ privacy must be protected (space for spouse - bedroom, space for self - bathroom) and enough time must be allocated for them. There can be overlaps, when we share different rooms with some people (eg friends at work and social “rooms”). Discussions become difficult when we draw hard lines to separate family, social, work parts of life.
Would unfortunately if that’s your only takeaway from her deliberations
I think people who say work is just work are usually the ones who are selfish at work and make work miserable for everyone else. If someone don’t value their work, don’t find some value (eg service) in it, no matter how mundane, then they should find another job so they don’t bring things down for their co-workers. Purpose at work brings out better from people and it adds to their lives, doesn’t take away. Fully agree that the corporate compact between management and employees is often broken and it brings about for the employees a struggle between meaning and selflessness vs Darwinism at work. The people who should absolutely find value in their work are civil servants and essential workers but it’s a whole other debate how it’s often difficult for them to find that.
We missed the lesson at the end of the Cold War, that you cannot choose between “left” (cooperation, socialism) and “right” (competition, capitalism). Humans cooperate and compete all the time, at the same time, but not consciously. Politics (community, civilization) has always been the challenge to balance competition and cooperation, thoughtfully and with purpose. Then we will have common ground and can solve the problems of living together. America practices socialism, but mostly to benefit the wealthy. Now that the rich and poor are so far apart, we can be divided and destroyed from the inside by fascism. Most of us are fighting over the crumbs, unable to afford to raise and educate children. The wealthy are miserable, too, as they never truly feel they have enough.
Please throw Steve Bartlett into this mix..
Thanks!
Brilliant Idiots is a different kind of podcast.
👌..Service
“Do I seek to hire someone that is a cultural contributor or just a cultural fit?” – Great conversation!
I love listening to them ❤
LOVED This!!! Thank you all for this mentally stimulating conversation
Thank you for allowing us the privilege of sitting in on such an impactful conversation. Even in disagreement there was mutual respect and a desire to understand one another’s perspective, we desperately need more of that throughout politics and society as a whole.
Pure awesomeness 👏 and RUTO MUST GO 🇰🇪✊😤
hmm simon sinek is sort of quack…
It feels like Simon has some blindspotting to work on. His perspectives are interesting and have great nuance, but I feel he misses a vital point that a white cis man won’t experience in life when it comes to privilege. Life doesn’t give a full perspective from just the eyes of someone treated as the top of the system, he would benefit from hearing more of Christiana and other black women to alleviate this blindspot.
I really had a great time watching this….i had just the opportunity to watch this two (simon and trevor) at simon’s channel..and now this?? Happy me really😊😊
It is always the “delta” between the rich and the poor that dictates social stability. To believe otherwise is delusion. Not the difference, but the relative delta. We are currently unstable.
Dear Trevor, I respect your work. I’ve been an active consumer of your insights and stand up videos. I also deeply admire Simon and resonate with his concepts. Seeing the announcement of a new podcast featuring both of you I was so happy. However, as I reached the 19-minute mark, I found myself wanting to turn it off.
There is already so much information and noise online. But when two smart and good people like you and Simon engage in a dialogue, it has the power to bring clarity and systematize the chaos. Having third person in the podcast is not helping with this. I know that you have one on one podcasts as well. Please, considering having more one-on-one format for future podcasts. Especially, with people like Simon 🙏
this guy corporates
I hate gossip. It’s a cancer. Such great conversation and wonderful example of how to wrestle with different perspectives.
I Needed to hear this. Thank you.
Another great conversation. Thursday is now my favorite day of the week.
Simon Sinek fit right in with Trevor and Christiana. Such valuable exchange of ideas and perspectives. I think I just became aware of my why.🩷What a beautiful insight to have, to find your own north star!
Yes
I also hate gossip and absolutely refused to take part in it in the last few years, but I decided to relax my priciples on that because I realized exactly what Christiana was saying: I didnt pass on knowledge about men who were a problem at my work to other women. And collegues started to not trust me because my complete neutrality made them feel like I am hiding something or that I am "not on their team". I think there is some necessary flow of information in gossip, just dont engage in the mean spirited stuff.
Thank you for this!
Thank you for sane conversation. Brilliant.
I think the argument Christiana making past the halfway park which wasn’t fully unpacked was - Humans have a deeper purpose for self-actualization, and we should not entrust companies with this core desire, or worse- to allow them to sell us on it. Just my interpretation, and I think it’s an interesting perspective.
Christiana’s contributions to this episode were so invaluable because while I didn’t agree with what she was saying, it helped me challenge myself to understand why I was so discomforted by some of the points she made. Thank you Christiana. I think there are people privileged enough to be centered in social and spiritual settings that have not become untethered from their social groups from micro (family) to macro (historical culture and identity). This is a privilege that not all people have. There was just a lot of privilege laden in these statements. First, labor is labor regardless of the system of rules by which it operates. Some labor is paid; some is unpaid. Social settings also require labor (usually inequitably so). And to Trevor’s point sometimes people do unpaid social labor willingly because it serves them personally and experience joy and sometimes they don’t. Somatic capacity greatly informs these experiences. Who has the energy to work in all these settings: the paid setting (to buy food and shelter), the usual unpaid family setting (to give and receive emotional food of love and nurture), the (fill in the blank) spiritual setting (to affirm and receive spiritual love and nurture) differs greatly based on social privilege. But all these settings to be well and productive and supportive and fulfilling takes energy. So having the energy to do all this work is a privilege also; though it can be cultivated. HOWEVER, historically there has been so much exploitation of the not privileged (insert identity group) in the U.S. The notion that social unpaid labor in social settings is per se rewarding (and not exploitative) while paid labor in all “private” settings is de facto exploitative or dangerous is a false dichotomy, at least for me (as a cis-femme). As if! capitalism or socialism or benevolent monarchy or democracy has ever accounted for the exploitative, involuntary AND unpaid labor of the exploited in any setting. Imo, having been raised in a social community that did not produce safe, affirming, joyful spaces for me as a child and young person, I at first chose a profession that would give me autonomy but it came with highly stressful and toxic work environments. But the freedom to control and decide how and when I use my labor when I watched people “struggle” in near poverty wage employment around me was integral to my education and professional journey. So when I woke up from that nightmare and started choosing joy, it necessarily meant I had to choose a safer place to do my paid (survival) work while I cultivated joy in social settings. So ultimately what I heard Christiana say is that she feels affirmed by the social communities of her upbringing which is beautiful and wonderful for her. It is simply not a universal experience. Some of us who are untethered from deeply rooted social “belonging” groups must create or cultivate those communities for ourselves. Joy is the core to what I choose to cultivate. So I really enjoyed that you all touched on a lot of the things that I have experienced even though I would have described it in different language. I maybe would have loved to hear a more direct acknowledgement not just of an unwarranted difference in treatment (read inequity) within paid labor systems but about unwarranted differences in treatment (read inequity) around unpaid labor in social institutions (like families ,churches, civic groups, and other identity groups) as well. Great talk though. loving the podcasts.
My biggest issue with Simon is that he will meticulously spell out an issue, lay out all the pieces, and then will just throw up his hands and leave them all to sit without coming to the very obvious conclusion that follows. Big example in this discussion is his ideas on CEOs. “They’re not bad people! It’s just bad incentive structures!” Despite seconds earlier having said he talked to a CEO who flatly told him that he won’t implement the objectively good advice he was given because “I won’t get my bonus”.
So there is a man who is on top of the world–making hundreds of times more per year than the average person–living in the lap of luxury while half the country can’t afford rent and groceries. He tells you flat out that he won’t do anything to improve the way his company operates, no matter how many people that might help, because then he won’t be able to watch the astronomically high number in his financial accounts go a little bit higher with his bonus. And your response is not “Wow, you’re an unspeakably selfish person.” Instead, it’s “Ahhh yes of course, your bonus. You’re so right. There’s no way you could help people and still keep that bonus. Don’t worry, my lord, we’ll just have to sit down and think real hard about what kind of incentive structure we could create so you can help people not starve and also keep that very necessary bonus so you don’t feel too bad about not theoretically maximizing your personal wealth.”
Man is so lost in the aroma of boot that he hears someone say “Sure, I’m rich. But I want to be richer” and thinks that’s just an understandable response to give. Sorry, y’all, I tried. He said he likes the idea of helping make things better, but he also wants to be extra rich, so his hands are tied! 🙃 More of you and Simon 🫶🏼 Such an amazingly good podcast!!!!! All inspiring Simon, as usual. Great convo! Great talk on Corporate Values and Principles: Principles of Technology Leadership by Bryan Cantrill. At 50min’s, the female host disagrees with companies promoting a “mission” or “values” to live up to. She declares it’s NOT their role – but LITERALLY works for a person who represents and is famous for a “humanistic” brand. So, WHY work w/ Trevor at all?? She should quit. And, is definitely NOT the socialist she claims to be if she’s only there “to get paid,” since socialism is about connection and care. She argues, she’s connected to NO ONE; defending being an opportunist. It’s simple – she is. I feel or think that Christiana and Trevor and Simon are saying the same thing just from different points of view and with different terminologies/descriptions. They all are talking about purpose/community/tribe/source of fulfilment but Simon says you can get it anywhere including your place of work/job, Christiana says nope, you shouldn’t get it anywhere else but your community if they get it from work people won’t fix our broken community, while Trevor is just in between. I side with Simon, you can get tribe/feeling of contribution by building a pyramid or working in a purpose driven company or coming together to build a house for a neighbour who needs a house. Let’s not exclude the company as a place for that… but yes, we need the bowling leagues back. Double doses of awesomeness😍 from A bit of Optimism to What Now🦋🌹 Whoa! Just watched these two geniuses on Simon’s pod and now here? We are blessed! What a great episode! Loved this episode Learned a lot. Thank you Simon! I love the tough love btwn Trevor and Christina😂🤭 Lol…Looks like almost everyone’s favourite memory is from their childhood. I think its our responsibility as adults to give these upcoming adults a heads up… adulthood manual of some sort. This is one of the best episodes. Christiana makes it so interesting. 🥰 Thanks a lot. Those are good communication rules: Socrates rules: 1. is that true, 2. is useful, 3, is positive. Do not generalize, show empathy, ask questions, do not judge, criticize or give advice, just ask questions. The flip side is, nobody was saying you should entrust that to companies. @celiamoreno5117 should it be interpreted like this : Do not generalize, do not judge, do not criticize, do not give advice instead show empathy and ask question? This was a great conversation! I learned alot. I’m aware that Trevor had a conversation w the late and great Judy Heumann who yesterday was her birthday as was mine. She stated “We want the laws enforced”. We must center disability/immunocompromised communities and accessibility in equal and equitable manners. Full accessibility anywhere doesn’t exist and these laws/policies are not being enforced in these spaces. We as disabled people want to be in these spaces and have seats at tables we deserve to be at but can’t bc of various barriers/discrimination/policies ect. We must understand that accessibility helps everyone and help that isn’t helpful, isn’t actually helpful. Disabled people have long had solutions but we are never heard and are always an afterthought. The ADA is literally the floor and it doesn’t have to be this way so I challenge non disabled people to sit with this and think about what actions they can do with us and listening to us bc it’s not “just an inconvenience” for disabled people it’s an inaccessibility and non disabled people need to understand that and make it accessible. ❤️🩹🦓 ⬇️here’s some good continuing education on it.
https://theabilitytoolbox.com/systemic-ableism/ Christiana!!!! 😂
That’s 💯 A great conversation overall. The ideas and analysis on chaos and leadership were very educative.
We think that Mr. Noah’s question on “one finding their community” was answered by the guest on the “modern society anti greed needs response” perspective. Not on the other societal background understanding.
In the called modern society, “addictions” are indeed considered privilege over the simplicity of life: community, self authenticity, others love and acceptance, ect.
“The need for service” is a perfect response for the pure selfish mind and spirit. This means someone whose life has always depended on someone else to lack or be deprived somewhere else.
For someone in societies where life in community is a daily experience, however, if they experience such a thing as “needing to find their community”, it means they are not indeed at the right place.
If service was the problem; Jesus; The Lord, served His people, yet they rejected Him (He was not welcomed and they ensured He felt it, for benefits of their systems…). Therefore, service was not the issue in this case. It was the people with whom he was.
So, the guest answer is what the called modern society needs; “Giving Back” what has been taken from the world. In other societies it is “leaving the place” the eventual solution.
We add this quote we have at WorldWide Educative “When one is at home, they know they are and it reflects on them and anything else they do”.
Thank you for the conversation. Always a pleasure watching you doing what you do, Mr. Noah.
#TrevorNoah #WhatNowWithTrevorNoah #UnderstandingChaos #ContextualAndCircumstantialSolutions #WarmGreetingsFromEstherAtWorldWideEducative. Genuinely a wonderful conversation. Thank you all for it! Just listened to them on Simon’s channel, and this video popped up. yaaay “when you have a big gap between rich and poor it brings revolution” … (Rough quote)….being from South Africa( biggest wealth gap in world) I’m not sure what Trevor thinks of that statement … A-looter continua…. Gwaza Mkhonto? I literally just finished watching you guys on Simon’s channel. I have enjoyed the insightful verbal sparring between Simon and Trevor from the past and really enjoyed todays show. Adding Christiania was a delightful addition by adding a woman’s perspective as well. More please! 16:30 this is the Peter principle where raises occur until you have reached the point of incompetence at your new job I think its important to emphasise how you vent. Have hobbies, don’t just lash out Oh!!! The return interview! 🤩🤩🤩 What a great present! 🙏😊 Gossip is culturally healthy, especially for women. That’s how they communicated and stayed safe throughout history. It’s looked down on because it’s historically female. As she stated it’s warnings for who to stay away from and what is happening culturally that might present opportunities. I actually disagree with the guys on venting. Never ever vent about your personal or professional life at work to anyone, even a work bestie. People play around and find out at work. I never talk about my personal life (only my pet) and never complain at work (only bring up problems w solutions). You never want to be negative Nancy or the one who talk sh*t all the time. People will know they can’t trust you. Same with the Gossip, it has to careful and thought out. You can’t just say all the things all the time without discernment. Basically always be smart when you open your mouth at work, so people trust you. Christiane was very much like “duuuude you are so close to figuring out socialism but you’re to much of a white finance bro to realise it” during the whole speech about service at the end Wow, firstly, 3 of my favourites on a podcast. Christiana is growing on me :-) I love her energy. Secondly, I absolutely love that no matter how many times I listen to Simon, EVERY single time I learn something new. Lastly, I know my Why, but I feel like I’ve lost some of that, and now I am going to think about that Merry-go-round childhood memory. It’s only when I applied for a position that seemed obvious to me but not to others that I was forced to unpack the “why I chose to apply” and then convince the CEO to hire me and exceed expectations during those 18 months that I knew what needed to exist for me to feel a sense of purpose. So I realise now that when I feel lost or unfulfilled, I just need to go back to why those 3 things do not exist at that moment. Very informative talk I enjoyed the tension on this episode very much needed in the podcast space. Of course I,m always laughing my ass of as well as learning and having my own parasocial relationship with the subject matter. This episode I found myself engaged in another way. I was titliated. I never use that word hence the misspelling but yea, good episode as usual. I’m here for this 🙌 I love how Christiana kept Simon on his toes. did you guys just walk into a different room? i literally just finished the other episode So how do we get those thoughts to be the one that will lead movements and politics? She respresented us women so well.
I loved how they could not interrupt her unless she was done talking. @cheropmercy1730 yes she did! Yes Me too hhh Thank you algo same haha sameeeee Same. Samesies Sameee It seems they recorded the episodes back to back in the same week, still wearing the same clothes haha @ I noticed the clothes. 😂 Haha me too. Just done watching the shorts, simon telling story about shoe seller. 😅 Words have power and storytelling comes with great responsibility. It is a tool that can build and it can also destroy. Gossip as storytelling can be a powerful weapon also because it doesn’t require accountability, only the author’s perspective. When I encounter a gossip, I learn more about them than what they are saying and I absolutely steer clear of them. Also I’m a woman and I think gossip is weaponized against women the most not men. yeah, i respect simon’s position but i feel like the idea that venting at work is beneficial is definitely something that’s more true for men. for example, if women vent about their kids, they may be taken less seriously in the future because subconsciously people may think they’re not as focused on working. Chris is so right on gossip and the history of it and the role it had in protecting women and it still does in in this age. We’re protecting each other with what is called gossip.. I felt like Christina was interrupted so much she couldn’t get to the point she was trying to make!! very annoying, even though I love Simon and Trevor they were interrupting her all the time when she was trying to explain the history of gossip and its role in protecting the people, especially women Thanks for choosing to share your story or at least an epiphany this video birthed. Reading what you shared resonated with me the same way this video has. Peace and blessings! I just wish she wouldn’t make everything kinda jokey. @SiphehZ unfortunately some of us talk in sarcasm and knowing when to turn it off and on can bypass you especially when you’re in comfortable company😬😅 33:32 interesting take on the problem with capitalism Thanks for the episode, I appreciate the focus on the personal reality and “why”, where as the Noah on the Sinek podcast episode seemed to focus on the macro reality. Almost like the other side of the coin of this episode. There is no sound icon. And no sound. Checked my settings phone sound is on.??? Please, can he be a podcast regular. I want to share this podcast episode with my boss BUT I don’t think he’s an idiot…I just know he has frustrations with his bosses….how do I share it LOL I’ve often said of coworkers “they’re probably a great neighbor but I don’t want to work with them “. Something I’d push back on is this idea of separation between who you are at work and who you are as a person. In my experience it gives a pass to people to ruin other people’s lives and take no responsibility for their cruelty by saying “it’s just business”. Secondly, society is set up for us to spend the majority of our lives at our jobs. So what you are saying if you disregard that as a criteria to judge a person is that where someone spends most of their time and energy does not count towards whether they are considered a good person or not. Art for the sake of art. ❤ Yall need to befriend an art show artist and peak in. The coolest most diverse group of individuals with a beautiful common goal. Coming together all over the United States. 12:16 it s too expensive to know what’s going on. Think of the impact to profit margins I believe our society often teaches us to dislike our work instead of encouraging us to find something we genuinely love. Of course, it’s important that we can still provide for our families, but when we learn to be true to ourselves and enjoy what we do, we become happier and can make even greater contributions to our communities. It’s truly a blessing to love your work. I hope more people realize this, discover their true passions, and follow a path that truly aligns with who they are. Tell the story about Noah! Christiana can’t say anything without framing it as a racial or gender issue, she gives the impression that if you ask her Bout the weather she’ll go on a rant about how weather is worse for black women. Nice conversation about corporate leadership styles.. I have a lot to add.. but I ll keep it in my mind 😊 Great point @simonsinek. Phenomenal perspective on leadership Just listened on Spotify Trevor, I love your mind. Huh, so do I wait 2 hours or go to spotify and endure ads? Not important i know but why post a video that isnt watchable? Depressing thought if we can only have one Why in life that originates from our childhood story and is apparently impossible to change.
Not saying it can’t be true, but daymn seems unfair lol. Excited to watch & listen! Be one of the first subscribers to the podcast! https://bit.ly/SubscribeToWhatNowPodcast 🙌:stayhome: What are your thoughts on the episode? Agreed. Also, masks are part of costumes. Everyome wears costumes/masks. Who a person is at work is actual a person dressed in costume/mask, not a different person. What you choose to play/cosplay is precisely the essence of who someone is in leisure and in business togther. To add to this, you can be a hard, pushy, strict boss but still be a good person. In other words you may push people, you may expect a lot of people, and it can be done in a respectful and positive way if you are a good person and treat others accordingly. Just because you’re at work doesn’t give you an excuse to be an a$$hole, and if you are one at work it’s probably because you just are one period. Totally agree. That’s why capitalism continues to have permission to push past human care and moral boundaries that have led to the United Health Care CEO being assassinated. Every aspect of life, including labor, shouldn’t be “up for sale to the highest bidder” or can be thrown under the bus for any lucrative shareholder offer that comes to pass. The two greatest excuses that when we hear them we are in agreement that the behavior is wrong and we’re not gonna do an effing thing about it are: boys will be boys; it’s just business if you find both of these at heart, as do I, you can help this man the patriarchy we women have plenty of work for you able-bodied men The videos come out Thursday at 9am EST, 8am CST, 7am MST, 6am PST, 4am HST. @bluetinsel7099 thank you, i just dont understand why a video is presented before its viewable? It’s a premium YT feature. If you pay for a premium you can watch it early. @ It’s the premier which are different than lives. They are pre record so they have to set them to be released and have the reminders go out. @bluetinsel7099 thanks :) i had just not seen that before @ You’re welcome. I understand what he means in totality. I don’t believe there is “1” why per se but an opportunity to access is there’s one particular moment in time that becomes a genesis and anchor point for our path forward. In the exercise, he was able to make a connection between two points of time for Trevor.
But I am a firm believer that our childhood starts the book of our lives and that one or more experiences can shape it in a way that propels our future, negatively or positively. I liked the questions posed to identify the ‘why’ of you and think that once this is understood by more of us, it can allow for a more harmonious discussion on the topics of workplaces and redefine ways of working that aligns with purpose for all whilst considering our uniqueness.
Perhaps those tribe members understand their why more clearly ;🤣@“you go to the store to get meat?!”🤣
Also appreciate the gold nugget on the key to elevating the self by offering service to others. Trevor, you’re the bomb at diffusing tension with laughter. Enjoyed every minute of this episode. This is gold! Cheers from Brazil to y’all, Trevs, Chris and Simon! nailed it with the ‘soul sucking experience’ 👏🏼👏🏼cuz we all want to be on a 🎠🎠🎠 instead, or whatever it is for us. Look what you’ve done now, you’ve given me homework to think about 😀 great episode, aaand I see there’s more of you with Simon..yeah! I love how inquisitive both Cristiana and Trevor engaged in this dialogue. Specially by the end. Because I agree the shortcomings of this purpose seeking framework is that it disregards the work experience of the large majority of people (as workers in the conditions of David Greber’s bullshit jobs). Who is the co-host? 😊 Just amazing! Cheers from Austria! I wish more people would talk about the cooperative movement as an alternative to capitalism. In this I’m not think of small business capitalism as Sinek discussed but for larger economic organization I think we need to talk more, hear more about cooperation and how it is and can be used to create better quality of life and wellbeing for many people. An error occurred: ‘latin-1’ codec can’t encode character ‘\U0001f64c’ in position 181: ordinal not in range(256) (myenv) apollo@Athena ensi % nano youtube_pdf.py (myenv) apollo@Athena ensi % mv youtube_pdf.py scripts/youtube_pdf.py (myenv) apollo@Athena ensi % python scripts/youtube_pdf.py An error occurred: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: ‘/mnt/data/youtube_comments.pdf’ (myenv) apollo@Athena ensi %