If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.

This line is associated with Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why” framework, which he popularized in talks and writing about leadership and organizational culture in the late 2000s. It is typically used in the context of advising leaders to recruit and retain people based not only on competence (“can do the job”) but on shared purpose and values (“believe what you believe”). The quote circulates widely online and is often attributed to Sinek’s presentations and materials on building loyal teams and mission-driven organizations, where he contrasts transactional employment (working for pay) with commitment inspired by a common cause.

Sinek contrasts transactional employment with mission-driven commitment. Hiring purely for competence (“can do a job”) tends to produce compliance motivated by pay, whereas hiring for shared beliefs and purpose can yield discretionary effort—people invest identity, loyalty, and resilience in the work. The line fits his broader “Start With Why” framework: organizations that clearly articulate a cause attract employees who see their labor as meaningful, not merely remunerative. It also implies a leadership ethic: if leaders ask for extraordinary sacrifice (“blood and sweat and tears”), they must offer a credible, values-based reason and a culture that honors that commitment rather than exploiting it.