4.6 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 5 June 2025
⏱️ 40 minutes
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Author Simon Sinek joins host Reid Hoffman for a lively chat about how to identify good leaders, scale ideas, and leverage the “ultimate hack” for success. They also discuss why missionaries beat mercenaries in Silicon Valley and whether AI can ever really be your friend.
Simon Sinek’s 15th anniversary edition of “Start With Why”: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/304046/start-with-why-15th-anniversary-edition-by-simon-sinek/
Synthetic voiceover of Reid Hoffman used in this episode was produced by Respeecher with full consent and permission.
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0:00.0 | When you run a small business, you do it all, until you can't. That's where Upwork can help. |
0:07.3 | Whether you need a website revamp, marketing support, or someone to tackle admin tasks, |
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0:18.8 | Visit Upwork.com today and post your job for free. That's upwork.com to post your job for |
0:24.8 | free and connect with top talent ready to help your business grow. I always treated my business like a |
0:33.4 | social movement. Still do. The people who are on the receiving end, it really becomes theirs. |
0:39.1 | They take ownership. There might not be anyone in the world of business more synonymous with |
0:44.8 | helping people find their purpose, passion, and reason for being than my guest, Simon Sinek. |
0:51.0 | He calls it the why. This week on Masters of Scale, author and visionary Simon Sineck. He calls it the why. |
1:07.4 | This week on Masters of Scale, author and visionary Simon Sinek and I unpack that old Silicon Valley aphorism about who is more likely to succeed in business, mercenaries or missionaries. |
1:15.6 | I would venture a guess that the earlier days of Silicon Valley, you saw more missionaries. I would venture a guess that the earlier days of Silicon Valley, you saw more missionaries. And the current days of Silicon Valley, you see more mercenaries. |
1:19.6 | The true missionaries will tell the money to go screw themselves. |
1:24.6 | The true missionaries are not afraid of the short-term losses. |
1:29.5 | We also discuss how to build great leaders, the ultimate hack for achieving success, |
1:35.1 | and whether AI can never really be your friend. This is a fun one. Stay with us. |
1:45.7 | You've got to have incredible talent at every position. |
1:48.6 | It's like this huge push. |
1:50.3 | There are fires burning when you're going home. |
1:52.0 | Can you believe it? |
1:53.0 | Such an idiot. |
1:54.1 | And then you go back to, this is totally going to be amazing. |
1:57.6 | There are so many easy ways. |
... |
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