Simon Sinek on How to Apply an Anthropology Degree in Your Career

In Chapter 4 of 16 in his 2009 Capture Your Flag interview, author Simon Sinek answers "What Did You Learn Studying Anthropology at Brandeis University and How Did You Apply That in Your Early Career?" Sinek shares how majoring in anthropology enabled him to learn the skills necessary to understand consumer behavior in marketing and advertising. During college at Brandeis University, Simon Sinek, author of "Start With Why", learns to apply the science behind individual and group decision making in advertising and marketing roles, specifically in what motivates and inspires repeat consumer behavior and purchasing decisions. Simon Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people. Sinek is the author of two books, "Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Come Together and Others Don't" and "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action". He is a public speaker, an adjunct professor at Columbia University and a Brandeis University graduate.

Transcript

Erik Michielsen: What did you learn studying anthropology at Brandeis University and how did you apply that in your early career?

Simon Sinek: I'm fascinated by why people do what they do.  I've always been fascinated by it.  Anthropology gave me the freedom and flexibility to study the individual and the group. If you just want to study individuals you are a psychology major and if you just want to study the group you are a sociology major.  Where when you are an anthropology major you can do it all.  Freedom is nice.  I'm just fascinated by people.  In college, I loved going to bars and watch people on dates.  Watching their body language.  I did field work with the Massachusetts state police.  When I went into my career in marketing, I was interested in why people buy one thing over another.  For me it is very much the same.  What truly motivates us and what inspires us to repeat behavior?  

Simon Sinek on How Teaching Others Builds Your Knowledge

In Chapter 12 of 16 of his 2009 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, while teaching marketing at Columbia University, Simon Sinek learns to better organize the pieces into course material and classroom discussion. Teaching forces "Start With Why" author Sinek to more deeply understand his own knowledge and challenges him to learn by breaking down his knowledge into smaller components.

Simon Sinek is a trained ethnographer who applies his curiosity around why people do what they do to teach leaders and companies how to inspire people. He is the author of "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action". Sinek holds a BA degree in cultural anthropology from Brandeis University.

Transcript

Erik Michielsen: For a number of years you have taught a class at Columbia University.  What has surprised you most about that teaching experience?

Simon Sinek: You don`t know anything unless you are able to teach it to somebody else.  It is amazing how much we think we know, competence in something, until the job is not just to show it to someone else but to show it to them in a way they can understand it and do it as well or better than you.  Do you know how to ride a bicycle?  Yes I do.  Go teach somebody how to do it.  Teaching forces you to do is break down your knowledge into components that give you a deeper understanding of your own knowledge.  I love teaching because I learn more every time I teach.  

Simon Sinek on How to Identify Your Passion and Create Results From It

In Chapter 16 of 16 of his 2009 interview with Capture Your Flag host Erik Michielsen, "Start With Why" author Simon Sinek shares why passion is a result and not an action. Finding one's passion requires creating a process to make it actionable. Sinek shares why the first step is to identify what you love and then to continue to enable this root element through action.

Simon Sinek is a trained ethnographer who applies his curiosity around why people do what they do to teach leaders and companies how to inspire people. He is the author of "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action". Sinek holds a BA degree in cultural anthropology from Brandeis University.

Transcript

Erik Michielsen: What are your thoughts and what is your approach in finding and building upon passions?

Simon Sinek: Passion is not an actionable word. It is correct that those who do what they are passionate about do better, but it is not helpful advice.  The question is where does passion come from?  Passion is a result.  Passion is an energy.  Passion is the feeling you have when you are engaged in something you love.  Passion is the feeling you have when you would probably do this for free and you can't believe someone pays you for it.  We mistake that passion is something we do in our private lives but it shouldn't be done in our careers.  I'm a firm believer in you are who you are and anyone who says they are different at home than they are at work then in one of those two places you are lying.  The goal is to make everything you do at home at work something you are excited to do.  So how do you find the thing that you are excited to do?  It is easier than you think.  What are the things you would do for free?  What do you do when nobody tells you to do them? How can you recreate that feeling and be paid for it? I'm very involved in the art world.  I love to go to museums and galleries and I love to go see dances and performances because I want to see how others are interpreting the world.  That inspires me.  New ideas, new thoughts, new ways of looking at the world are things that interest me, privately, and I seek it out and pay money for it.  So, does that mean I have to have a career in the arts?  No.  That means I have to have a career where new ideas are explored, where people are experimenting and trying things out and I have to explore new ideas and try things out and I'm just as excited to go to work each day as I am to go do something on a Saturday night.  The idea of finding your passion is ironically simple. You should be doing something you love sometime. What is the stuff that you enjoy and what is the stuff that you love?  Who are the people you love and what do they all have in common?  

How to Apply Philosophy Education to a Business Job - Caroline Giegerich

In Chapter 7 of 13, Brown University graduate Caroline Giegerich learns to apply her classic education in philosophy and pre-med to modern digital media roles at HBO and the Los Angeles Times.  Giegerich finds her philosophy Logic education especially valuable as she deconstructs arguments and works through business problems in sales and business development.

How Travel to Italy Helped Reset Career Plans - Caroline Giegerich

In Chapter 4 of 13, Caroline Giegerich unexpectedly finds medical school an unappealing career option after a hospital internship.  Learning the study of science does not necessarily translate to a practical medical career.  Upon graduating from Brown University, Giegerich finds restitution and catharsis on a trip to Bologna, Italy.  Ultimately, she resets and returns to New York for her next chapter, an entry-level job in direct marketing sales. 

How City and Classroom Cultures Shape Duke MBA Experience - Phil McKenzie

In Chapter 13 of 13, Phil McKenzie shares why he chose to attend Duke University's Fuqua School of Business for his MBA degree.  He finds Duke's international student classroom diversity to be an important catalyst in shaping his MBA experience in Durham, North Carolina.  Moreover, Durham provides a sanctuary and respite away from New York City, providing McKenzie a more immersive graduate studies experience.  Phil McKenzie graduated from Howard University and earned an MBA from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.  Before starting FREE DMC and the Influencer Conference, McKenzie worked for eight years in sales and trading at Goldman Sachs.

How Strong Work and School Cultures Create Loyal Alumni - Phil McKenzie

In Chapter 10 of 13, Howard University, Duke University, and Goldman Sachs alum Phil McKenzie details how his affinity for strong cultures has shaped his loyalty to schools, classmates, and colleagues.  McKenzie continues to pursue similar environments in his continuing education and career development.  Phil McKenzie graduated from Howard University and earned an MBA from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.  Before starting FREE DMC and the Influencer Conference, McKenzie worked for eight years in sales and trading at Goldman Sachs.

What Makes Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Relationships Last - Phil McKenzie

In Chapter 9 of 13, Howard University graduate Phil McKenzie recounts building Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity relationships and how the bonds remain relevant 16-years after graduation.  Phil McKenzie graduated from Howard University and earned an MBA from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.  Before starting FREE DMC and the Influencer Conference, McKenzie worked for eight years in sales and trading at Goldman Sachs.

Why Choose an HBCU Education at Howard University - Phil McKenzie

In Chapter 8 of 13, Phil McKenzie shares how a desire to more deeply connect to the African American experience propelled his decision to choose Howard University, a historically black college and university (HBCU), in Washington D.C. for college after graduating Brooklyn Tech High School.  Phil McKenzie graduated from Howard University and earned an MBA from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.  Before starting FREE DMC and the Influencer Conference, McKenzie worked for eight years in sales and trading at Goldman Sachs.

How High School Diversity Shapes College Prep Planning - Phil McKenzie

In Chapter 7 of 13, Howard University, Duke MBA and Goldman Sachs alum Phil McKenzie recounts the in-depth multi-cultural and college preparatory experience - including majoring in architecture - attending Brooklyn Tech, one of New York City's specialized high schools. The experience enabled Phil to build upon his father's influence and study architecture in a diverse environment that contrasted with more homogeneous elementary and middle school settings.  Phil McKenzie graduated from Howard University and earned an MBA from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.  Before starting FREE DMC and the Influencer Conference, McKenzie worked for eight years in sales and trading at Goldman Sachs.

How Libraries, Museums, and Parks Can Teach Child Culture - Phil McKenzie

In Chapter 5 of 13, while growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Phil McKenzie's Barbados and Guyana-born parents teach him cultural appreciation through immersive childhood experiences in museums, libraries, parks, and architectural firm offices.  These experiences shape McKenzie's future choices for education and career.  Phil McKenzie graduated from Howard University and earned an MBA from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.  Before starting FREE DMC and the Influencer Conference, McKenzie worked for eight years in sales and trading at Goldman Sachs.

How Richard Sommer Started Oregon Wine Industry in 1961 - Patty Green

In Chapter 4 of 7, Willamette Valley winemaker Patty Green discusses her mentor, Richard Sommer, an Oregon winemaking visionary, pioneer, and Hillcrest Vineyard founder.  Sommer provided then-novice winemaker Green non-traditional mentoring and support during her late-80s Hillcrest tenure. Sommer, who passed away the afternoon of this interview, filmed July 28th, 2009, influenced many by helping others, embracing nature, and building Oregon's wine vinifera - Old World wine grape focus - from nothing starting with a 1961 Umpqua Valley planting.

Planning Corporate and Public Interest Law Careers - Julia Green

In Chapter 2 of 9, Julia Green reflects on her Georgetown Law School experience.  While there, Gatto remembers sharing an uncertainty toward career and purpose with her classmates and peers.  Hiring companies present lucrative opportunities and students, unfamiliar about goals with career planning, accepting them not seeing alternative opportunities, especially given student loan obligations. Green highlights the benefit attending law school immediately upon college graduation, namely having a law degree by age 25. She also highlights the recruiting dichotomy between corporate law and public interest law and the necessary initiative required to push beyond the corporate recruiting marketing and promotion and into exploring public interest opportunities.

How to Apply a Columbia MBA Degree at a Record Label - Andrew Epstein

In Chapter 13 of 15, Andy Epstein shares why he decided to enter the Columbia Business School MBA program while working at Island Def Jam records.  The MBA curriculum helps Andy Epstein better understand his company's core competence and positioning while elevating his own self-confidence in why his role matters. 

Leaving Teach for America to Consider Music Industry Jobs - Andrew Epstein

In Chapter 6 of 15, Teach for America educator Andrew Epstein looks beyond teaching for greater career fulfillment.  He begins the search process by mapping his passion, music, to potential music industry career possibilities, including being a radio DJ. 

How Teach for America Experience Shapes Leaders - Andrew Epstein

In Chapter 5 of 15, Teach for America educator describes the most important takeaway from the program.  The Teach for America experience improves his communication, connection, and motivation skills. This, not the lesson plans or topical competence development, form his greatest lessons learned from the experience. 

How Teach for America Educator Connects with Kids - Andrew Epstein

In Chapter 4 of 15, attentiveness to individuals by staying inquisitive and concerned brings Bronx-based Teach for America educator Andrew Epstein closer to his students. Over time, Epstein earns acceptance, respect, and trust from his students and is able to better assert his learning agenda.

How Working in The Bronx Shapes Teach for America Job - Andrew Epstein

In Chapter 3 of 15, Teach for America educator Andrew Epstein spends three years in the Bronx teaching children from nearby public housing projects after graduating from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.