Perhaps a better subtitle might be: ‘Start with Why: how Great leaders inspire others to focus’ and succeed.
Great leaders and organizations are good at seeing what most people can’t see, which is the mindset of having a longer-term vision. Starting with clear focus and *why* is a great start, and presumably shows that you have really thought about it.
People, brands and organisations need to start with WHY give people a way to tell the outside world who they are and what they believe.
As an external consultant, I have found the ‘celery test’ extremely useful when advising customers. Here is Sinek himself, on the topic:
Although the subtitle is about inspiring great leaders to take action, I found that I took the idea of ‘focus’ away from the book. Sometimes, I see organisations acting like a start-up; trying to achieve a breadth and coverage quickly, and hoping that something will stick with customers.
Starting with WHY means that organisations can achieve integrity, because they will have success, and a story to go with success. Organisations, large and small – and even one-man-band consultants – need to think about their megaphone and what they are actually saying to customers.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that customers pay much attention. Instead, they ‘snapshot’ and you only have a small time to get your message across. By keeping your messaging simple, it means that there is less ‘noise’ for confusion.
I recommend you read it – I found it inspirational, and it helped me to get back to my ‘story’, and to think about my customer’s ‘stories’ as well. I read that it was over-long but I liked Sinek’s way of weaving story and ‘relatable’ anecdote with the points he was making. Sometimes I would find something different in the anecdote than his intention, so I was taking my understanding to a different level.
Favourite Quotes
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.” Articulating our values as verbs gives us a clear idea – we have a clear idea of how to act in any situation.