The Highest Performance Strategy is Caring About People ft. Simon Sinek
6/18/20261 hr 21 min
In this episode of The Curiosity Shop, Brené Brown and Adam Grant sit down with their first-ever guest, Simon Sinek. Together, they explore the state of organizations globally, including the chaos hitting C-suites, the human cost of misaligned incentives, AI-driven layoffs, and leaders playing defense when they should be playing offense. They dig into what makes teams high-performing, why caring deeply about the people you lead isn't soft but essential, and what the military's culture of love and loyalty teaches us about business. The conversation also moves through nervous system regulation, shame and guilt in parenting and leadership, and what AI can or cannot replace about human connection. This episode is a reminder that the things we've been told to leave out of business, such as love, care, and human connection, may be the most important things we can bring to it.
The Old Order Is Dead. Do Not Resuscitate — Sven Beckert, November 4, 2025, The New York Times
A Friedman Doctrine — Milton Friedman, September 13, 1970, The New York Times Magazine
‘Take a simple idea and take it seriously’: Charlie Munger in his own words — Financial Times
The Inner Game of Tennis — W. Timothy Gallwey, 1974, Random House
Suppose We Took Groups Seriously… — Harold J. Leavitt, 1975, in Man and Work in Society
Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts — Brené Brown, 2018, Random House
Developing Brave Leaders and Courageous Cultures — Brené Brown, Dare to Lead hub
The Infinite Game — Simon Sinek, 2019, Portfolio/Penguin
Brené Brown: Focus on guilt instead of shame — 60 Minutes, March 29, 2020, YouTube
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsBrené Brown· Host0:00
Hi, Adam.
Adam Grant· Host0:00
Hey, Renee.
Brené Brown· Host0:02
I'm excited about this episode.
Adam Grant· Host0:04
Me too.
Brené Brown· Host0:05
Yeah. I- we, we, we have our first guest for you this episode. Adam will tell you all about our, our guest and our conversation. Before we get there, I want to let you know we are coming... This is the close to season one. Um, it has been, it has been a wild ride. We're so grateful to y'all, um, for being on the ride with us. We're going to be... We're taking a hiatus for five weeks. Um, during those five weeks, we're bringing you some best-of podcasts that we think you'll really enjoy, and then we'll be back on July 30th with new episodes, including some really fun guests. Um, we're gonna try something new and interview some folks and then talk about what we're learning from our guests. So excited, but really, really want to make sure I'm clear that I'm s- we're both so grateful, um, for y'all coming to the Curiosity Shop and hanging out with us and learning with us. It's been really fun.
Adam Grant· Host1:01
It has been. And, and speaking of fun, we're very excited to bring you a special conversation that we recorded at Brilliant Minds in Stockholm, it was last week, with our friend Simon Sinek. If you don't already know Simon, he's an ethnographer, TED Talker, author of books like Start With Why and The Infinite Game. He's also a podcaster and an optimist. We had a great conversation about the state of work in organizations, about how to build strong teams, how to get the most out of leaders, and we also got