# Read the first page of Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek Read the opening of Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek free, no signup. How trust, safety, and shared purpose help teams cooperate and perform under pressure. - Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/leaders-eat-last-simon-sinek - Genre: Leadership - Year: 2014 - ISBN: 9780670923182 - Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9780670923182&s=read-page - Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9780670923182 - Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9780670923182 ## The opening @@CHAP@@ Chapter 1 @@CHAP@@ Protection from Above A thick layer of clouds blocked out any light. There were no stars and there was no moon. Just black. The team slowly made its way through the valley, the rocky terrain making it impossible to go any faster than a snail’s pace. Worse, they knew they were being watched. Every one of them was on edge. A year hadn’t yet passed since the attacks of September 11. The Taliban government had only recently fallen after taking a pounding from U.S. forces for their refusal to turn over the Al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden. There were a lot of Special Operations Forces in the area performing missions that, to this day, are still classified. This was one of those teams and this was one of those missions. All we know is that the team of twenty-two men was operating deep inside enemy territory and had recently captured what the government calls a “high-value target.” They were now working their way through a deep valley in a mountainous part of Afghanistan, escorting their high-value target to a safe house. Flying over the thick clouds that night was Captain Mike Drowley, or Johnny Bravo, as he is known by his call sign or nickname. Except for the whir of his engines, it was perfectly peaceful up there. Thousands of stars speckled the sky, and the moon lit up the top of the clouds so brightly it looked like a fresh layer of snow had fallen. It was beautiful. Johnny Bravo and his wingman were circling above in their A-10 aircraft, waiting should they be needed below. Affectionately known as the Warthog, the A-10 is not technically a fighter jet; it’s an attack aircraft. A relatively slow-flying, single-seat armored plane designed to provide close air support for troops on the ground. Unlike other fighter jets, it is not fast or sexy (hence the nickname), but it gets the job done. Ideally, both the A-10 pilots in the air and the troops on the ground would prefer to see each other with their eyes. Seeing the plane above, knowing someone is looking out for them, gives the troops below a greater sense of confidence. And seeing the troops below gives the pilots a greater sense of assurance that they will be able to help if needed. But given the thick cloud cover and the mountainous terrain that night in Afghanistan, the only way either knew the other was there was through the occasional radio contact they kept. Without a line of sight, Johnny Bravo couldn’t see what the troops saw, but he could sense how the troops felt from what he heard over the radio. And this was enough to spur him to act. Following his gut, Johnny Bravo decided he needed to execute a weather letdown, to drop down below the clouds so he could take a look at what was happening on the ground. It was a daring move. With the thick, low-hanging clouds, scattered storms in the area and the fact that Johnny Bravo would have to fly into a valley with his field of vision reduced by the night-vision goggles, performing the weather letdown under these conditions was extremely treacherous for even the most experienced of pilots. Johnny Bravo was not told to perform the risky maneuver. If anything, he probably would have been told to hang tight and wait until he got the call to help. But Johnny Bravo is not like most pilots. Even though he was thousands of feet above in the safe cocoon of his cockpit, he could sense the anxiety of the men below. Regardless of the dangers, he knew that performing the weather letdown was the right thing to do. And for Johnny Bravo, that meant there was no other choice. Then, just as he was preparing to head down through the clouds into the valley, his instincts were confirmed. Three words came across the radio. Three little words that can send shivers down a pilot’s neck: “Troops in contact.” ## Books with a similar feel - [Dare to Lead by Brené Brown](https://uncovered.ink/read/dare-to-lead-brene-brown.md) - [Convince Them in 90 Seconds or Less by Nicholas Boothman](https://uncovered.ink/read/convince-them-in-90-seconds-or-less-nicholas-boothman.md) - [Lean In for Graduates by Sheryl Sandberg](https://uncovered.ink/read/lean-in-for-graduates-sheryl-sandberg.md) - [The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-black-swan-nassim-nicholas-taleb.md) - [How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie](https://uncovered.ink/read/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people-dale-carnegie.md) - [Ikigai by Héctor García & Francesc Miralles](https://uncovered.ink/read/ikigai-hector-garcia-and-francesc-miralles.md) --- Source: Uncovered (https://uncovered.ink). A short sample shown for reading and discovery. 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