Navy SEALs would rather take a medium performer with high trust than a high performer with low trust. Simon Sinek explains why high performance without trust is toxic, and why most businesses promote the wrong people.
0:00 How Navy SEALs pick SEAL Team Six
0:19 The Performance vs Trust graph
0:45 "Do I trust you with my money and my wife?"
0:58 High performer + low trust = toxic
1:28 Business measures performance, not trust
1:52 Who's the asshole vs who has your back
WHAT IS TRUST VS PERFORMANCE?
Trust vs performance is Simon Sinek’s Navy SEAL framework for choosing teammates. Performance is skill on the job (results, quarterly numbers, battlefield competence). Trust is character off the job (who you are when no one is scoring you). Elite teams optimize for both — and will sacrifice raw output before they sacrifice trust.
THE 4 TYPES OF PEOPLE ON A TEAM
• Low performance + low trust: nobody wants this person.
• High performance + high trust: everyone wants this person.
• High performance + low trust: a toxic leader and toxic teammate. SEALs would rather not have them.
• Medium or even low performance + high trust: preferred over the high performer who cannot be trusted.
Sinek’s line from the SEALs: “I may trust you with my life, but do I trust you with my money and my wife?”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BUSINESS
Companies have a million metrics for performance and almost none for trustworthiness. That imbalance is how organizations promote and bonus toxicity. It can look like short-term results. It destroys the organization over the long game.
HOW TO SPOT BOTH PEOPLE IN 10 SECONDS
Ask the team two questions:
1. “Who is the asshole?” They will all point to the same person.
2. “Who do you trust more than anyone else? Who has your back when the chips are down?” They will all point to the same person.
The second person is often not your highest individual performer. Keep them anyway. They create the environment where everyone else can succeed.
KEY TAKEAWAY
Hire and promote character. Train skills. High performance without trust is a liability, not an asset.
This clip is from Simon Sinek’s full talk, “How to Measure Success”: https://youtu.be/nyqLJSclNb4
This is still my favorite Sinek insight from the last 10 years.
#SimonSinek #TrustVsPerformance #Leadership #NavySEALs #ToxicLeadership #CompanyCulture #Hiring
