Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action
Author: Simon Sinek
10 Key Insights:
Southwest Airlines: was not built to be an airline, it was built to champion a cause. They just happened to use an airline to do it. In the early 1970s, only 15 percent of the traveling population traveled by air. Southwest wasn’t interested in competing against everyone else for 15 percent of the traveling population. Southwest cared about the other 85 percent. “We compete against the car and the bus.” But what they meant was, “We’re the champion for the common man.” That was WHY they started the airline.
There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it. Beyond the business world, manipulations are the norm in politics today as well. Just as manipulations can drive a sale but not create loyalty, so too can they help a candidate get elected, but they don’t create a foundation for leadership. Leadership requires people to stick with you through thick and thin. Leadership is the ability to rally people not for a single event, but for years.
WHAT: Every single company and organization on the planet knows WHAT they do. Everyone is easily able to describe the products or services a company sells or the job function they have within that system. WHATs are easy to identify and provide proof of your WHY
HOW: Some companies and people know HOW they do WHAT they do. HOWs are often given to explain how something is different or better. Not as obvious as WHATs, many think these are the differentiating or motivating factors in a decision. It would be false to assume that’s all that is required. There is one missing detail:
WHY: Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do. When I say WHY, I don’t mean to make money— that’s a result. By WHY I mean 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?
The neocortex, which corresponds with the WHAT level, is responsible for rational and analytical thought and language. The middle two sections comprise the limbic brain. The limbic brain is responsible for all of our feelings, such as trust and loyalty. Whether you defer to your gut or you’re simply following your heart, no matter which part of the body you think is driving the decision, the reality is it’s all in your limbic brain.
For values or guiding principles to be truly effective, they have to be verbs. It’s not “integrity,” it’s “always do the right thing.” It’s not “innovation,” it’s “look at the problem from a different angle.” This gives us a clear idea of how to act in any situation.
“You don’t hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.” This is all fine and good; the problem is, which attitude? What if their attitude is not one that fits your culture? Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them.
Energy motivates but charisma inspires. Steve Ballmer (Microsoft CEO for 14 years) would show up for a speech with incredible energy and knew how to pump up a crowd. But just because you can motivate a crowd doesn't mean that you can inspire a population. Motivation may be lost the next day but inspiration can fuel you for much longer.
The goal of business should not be to do business with anyone who simply wants what you have. It should be to focus on the people who believe what you believe. When we are selective about doing business only with those who believe in our WHY, trust emerges.
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