That Little Word “Why”

Recently I stumbled (again) across an old TED talk from Simon Sinek from 2009. I’ve seen it before, but this time it stuck. Take a look, it’s well worth watching.

It really makes you think, this little “why”.

Why do I get out of bed in the morning?

Why do I write books? Or rather why do I love writing books?

Why do I hate the business of trying to market those books?

Why do I love to travel and see new countries?

I could continue endlessly with my why personal list and each and every one of us has such a why list, I guess.

But why do some leaders inspire, some not?

Simon has got a point there when he says that inspiring leaders believe in what you believe.

Too many company bosses believe in money, power or whatever kind of materialistic stuff (what). The workers just follow them because they are getting fired otherwise and unfortunately we all need some money to survive in this world.

When I think of all the bosses I had over the years, only two come to mind that were different (and I liked both of them a lot). The reason is simply that they loved and believed in something else than the what, they had a real and true “why”. They believed in “higher things” like standing by their people, like helping others, seeing them grow. They also believe in challenging themselves and shaking up the status quo a bit and that being too comfortable means stagnation in terms of personal development.

Unfortunately, I have met way too few of such leaders, too many are driven by “what” and not “why” and I wonder whether they ever reflected on such things.

I for my part shall seek more for the whys – that’s my first New Year’s resolution