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

by Simon Sinek

What if we could all learn to think, act and communicate like those who inspire?

Every instruction we give, every course of action we set, every result we desire, starts with the same thing: a decision. There are those who decide to manipulate the door to fit to achieve the desired result and there are those who start from somewhere very different. Though both courses of action may yield similar short-term results, it is what we can’t see that makes long-term success more predictable for only one. The one that understood why the doors need to fit by design and not by default.

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 example starts to prove that people don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.

It’s worth repeating: people don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.

A WHY is just a belief. That’s all it is. HOWs are the actions you take to realize that belief. And WHATs are the results of those actions—everything you say and do: your products, services, marketing, PR, culture and whom you hire.

Great leadership is not about flexing and intimidation; great leaders, as General Robinson proves, lead with WHY. They embody a sense of purpose that inspires those around them.

She’s a great leader because she understands that earning the trust of an organization doesn’t come from setting out to impress everyone, it comes from setting out to serve those who serve her.

It is the invisible trust that gives a leader the following they need to get things done. And in Lori Robinson’s case, things get done.

I use the military because it exaggerates the point. Trust matters. Trust comes from being a part of a culture or organization with a common set of values and beliefs. Trust is maintaine...

If companies do not actively work to keep their Golden Circle in balance—clarity, discipline and consistency—...

In his aptly named book The Tipping Point, Gladwell identifies groups of necessary populations he calls connectors and influencers.

How the civil rights movement lifted an idea that all men are created equal to become a movement with the power to change a country is grounded in the principles of The Golden Circle and the Law of Diffusion.

Energy motivates but charisma inspires.

Energy can excite. But only charisma can inspire. Charisma commands loyalty. Energy does not.

A symbol cannot have any deep meaning until we know WHY it exists in terms bigger than simply to identify the company.

Symbols are any tangible representation of a clear set of values and beliefs.