Moment 154: The Truth About Quiet Quitting: Simon Sinek

Simon Sinek (0:03)

There's this concept of quiet quitting where people are coming to work and they're just doing the minimum, doing their hours, doing their job, not volunteering or raising their hands or going, and that's it. And it raises the question, is that bad? And I'm a great believer that it's all about expectation management.

Like I get asked about Amazon a lot. Like, do I disagree with how Amazon is run? And my answer is always the same, which is they never lied. They didn't tell you it's an magical place to work, where it's all kumbaya and we all like, you know, we all hang out with unicorns every day. It's really amazing. They're very open about it, that it's very, very aggressive and very rough and very competitive. And even the people who love it only last two years because they burn out. And so because they don't lie, you know what you're going to get if you go work there. And if you like that kind of culture, then go work there. If you don't like that kind of culture, then don't work there. But don't take the job and then say, I didn't know because you did. Like Apple, you know, people say, well, Steve Jobs used to drive his people really hard. But you ask the people who loved working there, they will tell you, yes, it was hard and there was a lot of pressure, but I did the best work of my life. And I'm glad I worked there because I never would have been able to work to that standard if I didn't work at Apple back in the day. So the important thing is that companies are honest about the kinds of cultures that they have, right? It's the lying. It's the, look how everything's kumbha. And like, and look, no culture is perfect. Even good ones have problems and even bad ones have advantages, right? But I think it's about managing expectations. And I think it's okay for somebody to say of themself, look, I'm not a careerist. I am okay with the fact that I will never be an owner or a senior manager. I want to be paid fairly. I want to do decent work. But I want work to fit neatly in my life and not overwhelm it. And I'm going to look for a job where that is possible. And I don't think we're at the point where we have total honesty on both sides yet. I hope we can get to the point because there's still stigma. Because the older generations like you and me are looking at, if somebody were to say to us, I only want to work 40 hours, I'm willing to push my boundaries occasionally. But really, this is just, we would be like, well, you're not working here. So, you know?

So, it hasn't normalized yet. But I think it's just a question of being honest with oneself. And you're allowed to change your mind as well. Like, I've decided I do want to be a little harder driving and I do have more ambition than I thought, you know? Or less. But I think it's just about honesty.

And this point of view is as true in personal relationships as it is in our professional relationships. So I had a conversation with somebody recently that I found absolutely fascinating. And she is polyamorous. She has four boyfriends, right? And she's very open about it. And one of the things that she explains is you have to be very honest with everybody so that everybody knows what the deal is. You know, I think what a lot of people do is they're dating somebody. It's new, it's casual. And they're dating somebody else that's new and casual. But they don't tell them about each other. So they both think that they're more special than they are. Or they both are driving towards something that may or may not be true. Because, you know, you're dating two or three people. And you're going to wait and see which one works out. In the poly world, what I'm learning is you tell everybody everything so everybody knows. And it's very open and honest. And everybody knows where they stand. You can say, I'm not into this, I want to be the sole, or I'm okay with this. And maybe something will develop, maybe it won't. But the point is, it's on the table. And I admire the level of communication. What I'm hoping is that we do the same thing in our professional lives. So you sort of have poly work, if you will. You know, I have two full-time jobs. You know, I have three things going, or I only want this kind of relationship. And it works if both parties are really open and honest. Because it's all about managing expectations. Hold on. I thought that you were going to give me all of your attention and all of your effort and all of your ambition. And you're telling me you only want to work, you want to treat my job as a casual job? Like just replace relationship with job. All the same rules seem to apply. But if I knew that, I would be fine with that. It would have given you a different job and had different expectations and wouldn't have pushed you really hard. I would have given that work to someone else. Because I'm assuming you want to live your career like I live my career. Like I assume that I'm getting into this relationship and you're getting into it for the same reasons as me because we never had a conversation. We are nowhere near that in terms of social acceptance for that kind of conversation. But I aspire for that. Somebody sits down and says, part of your CV and part of your interview says, what kind of work-life balance do you aspire for and how do you view work? Even if you change your mind. And then if expectations are managed, then what's the problem?