Rhetorical Analysis of Simon Sinek's Speech on How Great Leaders Inspire Actions

Running head: PUBLIC PERFORMANCE
PUBLIC PERFORMANCE
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Introduction
“The goal is not just to sell to people who need what you have; the goal is to sell to people who
believe what you believe. The goal is not just to hire people who need a job; it's to hire people
who believe what you believe.”
The above quoted lines of the author as well as the motivational speaker Simon Sinek
give an overview of his speech “How Great Leaders Inspire Actions”. This is one of the most
popular speeches of the recent times and as a matter of fact it ranks 3rd in the best Ted Talks of all
time. The major focus of the speech is on trying to find out the kind of actions on the part of the
leaders as well as the enterprises which have better chances of attaining success and the ones
which does not. Thus, it is seen that throughout the speech the speaker uses various kinds of
metaphors as well as similes to drive home the point which he is trying to make. The speaker in
addition to displaying mastery in the rhetoric of public speaking also displays a mastery of the art
of persuasion as well as the rhetorical triangle to make his meaning understood. While presenting
a successfully influential and powerful speech, it is significant to take into consideration the
fundamental types of individuals in the audience the speaker is delivering the speech to (Dr.
Martin Luther 2018). This is likely to help the speaker to attain the best understanding of the way
to present the message to the crowd. Several speeches and quotes which pose immense influence
and control are because of the methods and techniques implemented in the dialogue, for instance,
there lie the ideas of ethos, which entails the credibility of the speaker, following this there is an
occurrence of pathos which is aimed at the sentiments and emotions of the audience and lastly
logos through which speaker persuades the audience in a verbal manner or through
documentation with the factual arguments.

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Description of the Speaker
Simon Sinek is a well-recognized British American author, motivational speaker and a
renowned marketing consultant. Simon Sinek has gained considerable recognition for his
immense credence on the way inspiration, passion and enthusiasm can result in a greater degree
of success and organizational performance. His significant works comprise of “Start With Why:
How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action” (2009), “Leaders Eat Last: Why Some
Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t” (2014), “Together is Better; A Little Book of
Inspiration” and his recent release “Find Your Way: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose
for You and Your Team”. “How Great Leaders Take Action” delivered on September 2009 is
regarded as his official speech on the subject that focuses on the causes and reasons great leaders
motivate and provide enthusiasm to others to take action (Sinek 2018). His official speech
further deals with the way individuals develop the high level efficiency and proficiency in
business. This will shed light on the concept of Sinek that belief in a particular idea is more
likely to influence the people to follow a particular idea rather than any other extrinsic form of
motivation and it is with this particular purpose that a rhetorical analysis of this particular speech
will be undertaken to show particular the techniques as well as the tools which were used by the
speaker to enhance the appeal of the speech.
Rhetorical Foreground and Background
The major idea which the speaker tries to propagate in this particular speech is to show
the factors which impact the decisions as well as the actions of the leaders and the factors that
they need to take into consideration for the process of deciding on a particular course of action. It
is with this particular objective that the speaker emphases on the concept of belief as the major

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factor which affects the decisions as well as the actions taken by a particular leader in a
significant. The speaker is of the opinion that belief and not the other extrinsic factors like
“capitalized, people, market conditions” which are generally considered to be important factors
for the success or the failure of a particular action taken by a particular leader impacts the
decision or the action taken by a particular leader. The speaker to justify the point made by him
gives the metaphor of two leaders or group of people and the factors which influence the course
of action which they took. Firstly, he provides the example of the Wright Brothers who were
motivated with the idea to create something new which would significantly change not only the
course of History but at the same time considerably affect the way people lead their lives. Thus,
it was seen that although the Wright Brothers did not have the basic prerequisites which are
considered essential for the attainment of success like sufficient capital, effective market
conditions and skilled as well as educated people at their disposal they were able to successfully
innovate the first airplane of the world. Samuel Pierpont Langley, on the other hand, inspite of
having the best brains of the world as well as large amount of capital at his disposal failed to
effectively utilise it since he was more motivated by the fact of becoming rich rather than
effectively believing in goal which he himself has set up. This in short can be said to be the
rhetorical background of the speech which Sinek gave at the Ted Talks. Furthermore, the speaker
uses the simile of the companies of Apple, Dell and others to drive home the same point which
he intended to make with the use of the above given example. It must be noted that there are
goods or products which have immense recognition and have obtained a well-established
position in the market in comparison to other business enterprises making consumers prefer their
products. For example, in the brand marketing of mobile phones, there could be witnessed a high
rate of profitability of consumers favouring Apple phones in comparison to other brands