Why do you do what you do?
Why do you get out of bed in the morning?
And why should anyone care?
It is one of life’s greatest joys to wake up in the morning Every morning
with a clear sense of why the day matters Why every day matters.
This is what it means to find your Why.
It is the start of an inspiring journey Your inspiring journey.
SIMON SINEK is an optimist who believes in a brighter future for humanity. His talk on TED.com
is the third most watched talk of all time. Learn more about his work and how you can inspire
those around you at StartWithWhy.com.
DAVID MEAD began as a corporate trainer. In 2009, he joined the Start With Why team to
develop content to help Simon share his powerful ideas. Now he speaks and facilitates workshops
to help shift people’s perceptions about leadership and culture.
PETER DOCKER is a former senior Royal Air Force officer and professional pilot. Since joining
the Start With Why team in 2011, Peter has worked with organizations around the world to help
them articulate their purpose, educate their leaders and to create cultures where each individual
thrives.Your vision is only actionable if you say
it out loud. If you keep it to yourself, it
will remain a figment of your
imagination.
Start with Why
Sometimes a project that looks like an easy win for us turns into a
disappointment or even a disaster. More importantly, sometimes we, or a
competitor, succeed brilliantly when all the usual business assumptions say we
should have flopped. These outcomes can seem mysterious, but they’re not if
looked at in a framework that starts with WHY.
In his book, Start with Why, Simon Sinek uses a model that he calls the Golden
Circle to explain how legendary leaders such as Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King
Jr. and the Wright brothers were able to achieve what others who were just as
smart and hardworking, and sometimes better funded, were not.
If you’ve read Simon’s book or seen him talk about WHY on TED.com
(http://bit.ly/GoldenCircleTalk), you’re already familiar with the Golden Circle;
this chapter will serve to remind you of the most important points. If the Golden
Circle is new for you, what follows is the heart of the matter—and is essential
preparation for your own search for WHY.
Every organization—and every person’s career—operates on three levels, as
shown in the illustration on the next page: What we do, how we do it, and why
we do it. We all know what we do: the products we sell, the services we offer or
the jobs we do. Some of us know how we do it: the things that we think make us
different or stand out from the crowd. But very few of us can clearly articulate
why we do what we do.
“Hold on,” you might say. “Let’s be honest here—aren’t most people working to
earn money? That’s the obvious ‘why.’” First, money is a result. Though it is a
part of the picture, it’s not what inspires any one of us to get out of bed in the
morning. And for the cynics out there who think they or others really do get out
of bed for the money, the question we ask is, what is the reason they want the
money. Is it for freedom? To travel? To provide a lifestyle for their kids that they
didn’t have? Is it to keep score and show they have done more than others? The
point is, money isn’t the thing that drives people. WHY goes much deeper to
understanding what motivates and inspires us. It is the purpose, cause or belief
that drives every organization and every person’s individual career. Why does
your company exist? Why did you get out of bed this morning? And why should
anyone care?
When we meet new customers or clients, the first thing most of us tell them is
what we do. Then we explain how we do it or how we are different. This, we
think, will be enough to win their business, sway their point of view or convince
them to take a particular action. The following pitch follows that template:
We sell paper. We offer the highest quality product at the best possible price.
Lower than any of our competitors. Wanna buy some?This is a very rational pitch. It states clearly what the company does and
attempts to persuade potential buyers to choose its product over others’ on the
basis of features and benefits. Though this approach may work now and then, at
best it will result in a few recurring transactions. As soon as the buyer finds a
better deal, they will be gone, because the pitch doesn’t differentiate this specific
vendor from other companies in any way that truly matters. Loyalty is not built
on features and benefits. Features and benefits do not inspire. Loyalty and long-
lasting relationships are based on something deeper.
Let’s try the pitch again. Let’s start with WHY:
What good is an idea if it can’t be shared? Our company was founded to help
spread ideas. The more ideas that are shared, the greater the likelihood those
ideas will have an impact in the world. There are many ways to share ideas; one
is the written word. That’s where we come in. We make paper for those words.
We make paper for big ideas. Wanna buy some?
Totally different, right? Starting with WHY just made paper sound really good.
And if it can do that for a commodity, imagine what it can do for a product that
really can stand out. This pitch is not based on facts and figures, features and
benefits. Those things have value but not first. Leading with WHY has a deeper,
more emotional and ultimately more influential value. When we use the second
pitch, we’re no longer talking about paper. We’re talking about who our
company is and what we stand for. Of course, you’ll always get those people
who just want a ream of paper. And yet, if your customers’ personal beliefs and
values align with those expressed in your pitch—i.e., if they believe in the
spread of ideas—then they are much more likely to want to do business with
you, not just one time, but over and over and over again. In fact, they are more
likely to stay loyal even if another vendor offers a better price. It says something
about them when they do business with a company that reflects their beliefs.
Companies that inspire, companies that command trust and loyalty over the long
term, are the ones that make us feel we’re accomplishing something bigger than
just saving a buck. That feeling of alliance with something bigger is the reason
we keep wearing the jersey of our hometown sports team even though they’ve
missed the playoffs for ten years and counting. It’s why some of us will always
buy Apple products over other brands, even if Apple isn’t always the most
affordable choice. Whether we like to admit it or not, we are not entirely rationalbeings. If we were, no one would ever fall in love and no one would ever start a
business. Faced with an overwhelming chance of failure, no rational person
would ever take either of those risks. But we do. Every day. Because how we
feel about something or someone is more powerful than what we think about it
or them.
There’s just one problem with feelings. They can be tremendously difficult to
express in words. That’s the reason we so often resort to metaphors and
analogies, like “Our relationship feels like a train heading at high speed toward a
rickety bridge.” “When I get to the office, I feel like a little kid on the
playground again.” Even though communicating our feelings is hard, the payoff
is big. When we align emotionally with our customers and clients, our
connection is much stronger and more meaningful than any affiliation based on
features and benefits. That’s what starting with WHY is all about.
And here’s the best part: This is not our opinion. This whole concept of WHY is
grounded in the tenets of biology of human decision making. How the Golden
Circle works maps perfectly with how our brain works.
The outer section of the Golden Circle—the WHAT—corresponds to the outer
section of the brain—the neocortex. This is the part of the brain responsible for
rational and analytical thought. It helps us understand facts and figures, features
and benefits. The neocortex is also responsible for language. Next part coming soon
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