Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

by Simon Sinek

As the organization grows, the leader becomes physically removed, farther and farther away from WHAT the company does, and even farther away from the outside market.

love asking CEOs what their biggest priority is, and, depending on their size or structure, I generally get one of two answers: customers or shareholders.

For some people, there is an irony to success. Many people who achieve great success don’t always feel it. Some who achieve fame talk about the loneliness that often goes with it. That’s because success and achievement are not the same thing, yet too often we mistake one for the other.

In the course of building a business or a career, we become more confident in WHAT we do. We become greater experts in HOW to do it. With each achievement, the tangible measurements of success and the feeling of progress increase. Life is good. However, for most of us, somewhere in the journey we forget WHY we set out on the journey in the first place. Somewhere in the course of all those achievements an inevitable split happens. This is true for individuals and organizations alike. What the Endicott entrepreneurs experienced as individuals was the same transition that Wal-Mart and other big companies either have gone through or are going through. Because Wal-Mart operates at such an immense scale, the impact of their fuzzy WHY is felt on a greater scale. Employees, customers and the community will feel it also.