This was a quick and interesting read, which was inspiring and gave me a lot to think about. Sinek proposes that truly great companies start with and continuously maintain their 'why', their deep gut purpose. All decisions about "how" to run the business and the "whats" they will do are evaluated against the 'why'. The leader inspires and builds based on the why, attracting people who also believe in that why. One of the examples was Walmart, where Sam Walton's 'why' was to support the community around walmart with good stable jobs and providing access to products at a price the community could afford. After his death, the 'why' got fuzzy, when shareholders or other influences made changes that did not put the employees and communities first. Bad press and other issues followed. This is an older book, thus the anecdotal stories are a couple decades old, but those stories serve their purpose as well today as they did at first publication in 2009. We can all have a personal 'why' too, and can decide if our work or other aspects of life are aligned to that why.
One of the examples was Walmart, where Sam Walton's 'why' was to support the community around walmart with good stable jobs and providing access to products at a price the community could afford. After his death, the 'why' got fuzzy, when shareholders or other influences made changes that did not put the employees and communities first. Bad press and other issues followed.
This is an older book, thus the anecdotal stories are a couple decades old, but those stories serve their purpose as well today as they did at first publication in 2009.
We can all have a personal 'why' too, and can decide if our work or other aspects of life are aligned to that why.