Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Organizational WHY

A clear sense of WHY sets expectations. When we don't know an organization's WHY, we don't know what to expect, so we expect the minimum—price, quality, service, features—the commodity stuff. But when we do have a sense for the WHY, we expect more

Golden Circle

A model by Simon Sinek that emphasizes an understanding of the business' "why" before focusing on the "what" and "how". Golden Circle theory explains how leaders can inspire cooperation, trust and change in a business based on his research into how the most successful organizations think, act and communicate if they start with why

Productivity and Success

Achievement comes when you pursue and attain WHAT you want. Success comes when you are clear in pursuit of WHY you want it; If you give people the right tools, and make them more productive, then everyone, no matter their lot in life, will have an opportunity to achieve their real potential

Charisma in Leaders

Energy motivates but charisma inspires. Energy is easy to see, easy to measure and easy to copy. Charisma is hard to define, near impossible to measure and too elusive to copy. All great leaders have charisma because all great leaders have clarity of WHY; an undying belief in a purpose or cause bigger than themselves; Charisma has nothing to do with energy; it comes from a clarity of WHY

Fear and Manipulation

Fear - real or perceived - is arguably the most powerful manipulation and also very destructive; When marketers report that a majority of a population or a group of experts prefers their product over another, they are attempting to sway the buyer to believing that whatever they are selling is better. Peer pressure works not because the majority or the experts are always right, but because "we fear that we may be wrong.

Messaging

For a message to have real impact, to affect behavior and seed loyalty, it needs more than publicity. It needs to publicize some higher purpose, cause or belief to which those with similar values and beliefs can relate. Only then can the message create any lasting mass-market success; For a WHY to have the power to move people it must not only be clear, it must be amplified to reach enough people to tip the scale

Leadership and Inspiration

Great leaders are able to inspire people to act. And those who are able to inspire give people a sense of purpose or belonging that has little to do with any external incentive or benefit to be gained.

What versus Why

If WHAT you do doesn't prove what you believe, then no one will know what your WHY is and you'll be forced to compete on price, service, quality, features and benefits; the stuff of commodities; It is not just WHAT or HOW you do things that matters; what matters more is that WHAT and HOW you do things is consistent with your WHY

Carrots and Sticks

Manipulations don't breed loyalty, although they can drive sales, Carrots and sticks work just fine for transactions occurring on the average just once, but if you want to build lasting relationships, you have to inspire people. Manipulations are perfectly valid strategy for driving a transaction. But if you want loyalty, inspired people. It is the feeling of "we're in this together" shared between customer and company, employers and employee, mentor and mentees that defines great leaders

Trust and Leadership

Only when the WHY is clear and when people believe what you believe can a true loyal relationship develop; Trust begins to emerge when we have a sense that another person or organization is driven by things other than their own self-gain

Leadership Influence

There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it; aspirational messages are most effective with those who lack discipline or have a nagging fear or insecurity that they don't have the ability to achieve their goals on their own

Celery Test (Consistency and Credibility)

This is a metaphor about being consistent and AUTHENTIC. Passing the celery test is about maintaining credibility and integrity day in and day out, constantly; saying what you do AND doing what you say, it is about discipline. People identify these aspects of our unsaid communication and remember it when making their decisions. Summary of the metaphor: If you own a health business and your cart is seen in the grocery store checkout line, what is in it? Oreos? Chips? Or Celery? Does your cart reflect your credibility and is it consistent with your WHY?

Two types of leaders: Those who manipulate circumstances to reach their end result, or those who have their end result and potential issues in mind from the beginning.

Two types of leaders: Those who manipulate circumstances to reach their end result, or those who have their end result and potential issues in mind from the beginning.

Finding WHY

WHAT: What do you do? ["Every organization on the planet knows WHAT they do. These are products they sell or services they offer."] HOW: How do you do what you do? ["Some organization know HOW they do It. these are the things that make them special or set them apart from their competitors."] WHY: Why do you do what you do? What's the purpose? ["Very few organization know WHY they do it. WHY is not about making money. That's a result. WHY is a purpose, cause or belief. It's the very reason your organization exists."]

Why (What is your why?)

WHY, Sinek means what is your purpose, cause or belief? WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care? People don't buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.

Communication

We are drawn to leaders and organizations that are good at communicating what they believe. Their ability to make us feel like we belong, to make us feel special, safe and not alone is part of what gives them the ability to inspire us

Employee Motivation

When employees belong, they will guarantee your success. And they won't be working hard and looking for innovative solutions for you, they will be doing it for themselves; If the people inside a company are told to come to work and just do their job, that's all they will do. If they are constantly reminded WHY the company was founded and told to always look for ways to bring that cause to life while performing their job, however, then they will do more than their job; When people come to work with a higher sense of purpose, they find it easier to weather hard times or even to find opportunity in those hard times

Competition

When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you; What if we showed up to work every day simply to be better than ourselves? What if the goal was to do better work this week than we did the week before? To make this month better than last month? For no other reason than because we want to leave the organization in a better state than we found it?

Why Start with Why

Why is your purpose, cause or belief; every inspiring leader starts with why; people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it; knowing your why helps you avoid being lumped in with others; when you lose your why, it becomes more difficult to maintain growth, loyalty and inspiration

Biology of WHY

our need to belong is not rational, but it is a constant that exists across all people in all cultures. It is a feeling we get when those around us share our values and beliefs. When we feel like we belong we feel connected and we feel safe.