MGMA18: When it comes to leadership, Simon Sinek gives failing grade to politicians and healthcare executives

BOSTON—Simon Sinek, the author and lecturer, knows a lot about business and leadership.

And he says the country’s political leaders and many healthcare executives have something in common: They are doing a lousy job.

Sinek, the opening speaker at the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) annual conference in Boston on Sunday, said it is the job of leaders, including those in healthcare, to take care of the people who work in their organizations.

During a question-and-answer session following his speech, audience members asked Sinek how the country’s leaders and those in healthcare are doing. They didn’t get rave reviews.

Simon Sinek
Simon Sinek (Courtesy MGMA)

“They all suck,” Sinek said when asked if he would say what he thought of the current national leaders, an assessment that was met with loud applause. “If you are a Republican, you should be embarrassed. If you are a Democrat, you should be embarrassed.”

The point those leaders are missing is to simply say they are all responsible for the country’s problems, including its bipartisan division. He compared it to a spouse accusing a partner of not taking out the garbage. It doesn’t help to get into a battle over each partner’s shortcomings.

Sinek, who began his lecture by suggesting, “every single organization must have a just cause that drives your decisions,” said the country’s leaders must get back to believing in the “just cause” of government.

The country’s founders had a just cause that they put down in black and white in the Declaration of Independence and its tenet that all men are created equal, he said.

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“There’s nothing liberal or conservative about that,” he said, and until both Republicans and Democrats can say they are part of the problem and need to do better, “I say throw them both out and start again,” he said, to more audience applause.

The job of healthcare executives isn’t taking care of patients, he said. That is the job of doctors, nurses and other frontline staff. The job of healthcare leaders is taking care of the people who work in their organizations, he said.

Often, business leaders ask him how they can get the most out of their people, like they are wringing out a towel, he said. Instead, “the correct question is, ‘How do I create an environment where people work to their best selves?'”

That attitude is pervasive in America, in most industries and most companies, he says. Hospitals and healthcare organizations are not alone.

“It’s not unique, but why don’t you lead America” in showing how to lead organizations that care about people. “It is your choice how you wish to lead your life. It is your choice how you wish to lead,” he said.