Good Public Presentation Critical Thinking Example

The TED talk given by Simon Sinek on how good leaders make others feel safe is meant to inspire and educate the young audience and aspiring future leaders. The talk gives an entirely new perspective on leadership with examples to prove how challenges faced by leaders can easily be overcome by the approach and style of a good leader. The speaker is very clear in presenting his ideas about leadership. Though he is not presenting any novel idea on leadership, the speaker’s logical appeal and quoting of real life examples to convince the audience how a paradigm shift in leadership approach could make the fellow team members feel safe and secured at the leadership style is quite awe-inspiring. His idea is simple and lucid – a leader is bound to give his team a feel of safety and security.
Sinek begins the speech by narrating a courageous act of a real life leader, Captain William Swenson. While Captain Swenson, along with Afghan troops, was involved in rescuing a group of Afghan officials from a terrorist ambush in Afghanistan on September 2009, he demonstrated exemplary leadership wisdom by running into live flames to rescue the injured besides pulling out the dead from the fire. He touches the hearts of the audience while pointing out Captain Swenson’s gesture of kissing a rescued wounded soldier before leaving him on a safe place to rescue other members. This beginning, apart from being a typical attention-getter, says what Sinek is up to and makes the audience enthusiastic to listen to him further.
Having given an emotional start, Sinek goes on exploring the typology of such leadership characterized with giving a feeling of safety to fellow teammates. Contrary to business leadership that calls for achievement and bonuses by sacrificing others, military leadership is typical of leaders who are ready to sacrifice themselves to rescue others. The speaker explores why people come forward to give their own lives to save others, and concludes by informing the audience the secret of military leadership – a ‘feeling’ that motivates one to put his life at risk toward saving others. Sinek appeals by revealing his own findings from talking to many such real life heroes which adds credibility to his speech. He further explores the origin of such a ‘feeling’ in human beings and takes the audience to the Paleolithic era and the days of the Homo sapiens 50,000 years ago. It was the evolution of mankind as a social animal, while living amid insecurity in the wilderness at the threat of wild animals. It was mutual trust that prompted man to sleep during those days, believing that his fellow tribes would keep guard over him.
Sinek takes the audience to the present day insisting that the philosophy of leadership remains the same and so are the dangers facing today’s leaders. He lists the ups and downs in the economy, competition, and market fluctuation as some of the threats encountering business leaders today. But the solution remains the same, which is about a leadership approach that gives utmost importance to giving the feeling of safety to fellow teammates. He develops further this point by quoting an incident that he witnessed while he was trying to board a plane. As a passenger was trying to board even before his number was called, the gate agent yelled, trying to treat the man as though he were a domestic animal. When the speaker himself interfered and asked the gate agent why she was behaving like that she replied that if she did not control the passengers her boss would throw her out of the job. And the speaker aptly cites an airline most would love to fly because the gate agents of that airline company never have to fear their bosses. The message is quite clear here – “If you want to attract and retain customers, first make your employees feel safe and secured.”
Subsequently the speaker compares the role of a leader with that of a parent’s. Like a parent providing the needs of his or her children centered on educating and disciplining them besides giving them new opportunities, a leader should do the same to his team at the workplace that gives a secured feeling to the employees which in turn increase their productivity. Sinek quotes employee-friendly CEOs like Charlie Kim and Bob Chapman, who believe in disciplining and educating their poor-performing employees, as they would do with their own children at home, rather than laying them off. Sinek’s quotes like “Leadership is about taking a choice rather than a rank” and “Great leaders never sacrifice people to save numbers” are thought-provoking and inspiring. The speaker concludes with an emotional appeal by reiterating that great leaders give their sweat and blood to their people, and their people in turn give their sweat and blood to them. The point the speaker makes here is, a proud and hardworking employee promoted by such an inspiring leadership, on being asked by someone why he is sweating and spilling for the sake of the leader would proudly say that even his leader would do the same for his sake.