Why Did I Read This?
In 2015, I chanced upon Simon Sinek’s TED Talk on YouTube. What I remembered most was The Golden Circle concept. Subsequently a business partner signed me up for Simon Sinek’s Why Discovery Course which I have, to date, not completed the course.
Fast forward 3 years.
As 2018 draws to a close, with my goals for 2019 already set, I figured there’s not better way than to Start With Why — to start 2019 with my big WHY.
Hence, I want to find out what this book can offer before 2019 creeps up on me.
More precisely, why do I need to start with WHY?
What’s The Book About?
“Sinek starts with a fundamental question: Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?
START WITH WHY shows that the leaders who’ve had the greatest influence in the world all think, act, and communicate the same way — and it’s the opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.”
My 3 Biggest Takeaways
Biggest Takeaway #1
You actually don’t invent or decide what your WHY is. You discover or rediscover your WHY, which is your purpose, cause or belief that has been in you all the time, and then you start with WHY in all you say and do.
Biggest Takeaway #2
“People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it” and so we should “Define yourself by WHY you do things, not what you do — your WHY remains a constant because regardless of WHAT you do, customers know WHY you exist. Start with WHY but don’t stop there; always go back to WHY. “Knowing WHY is essential for lasting success and the ability to avoid being lumped in with others.”
Biggest Takeaway #3
When our WHY attracts people who believes what we believe but no that are not doing or buying anything you do because you ask them to do it, they are doing it for themselves, because so happens, your WHY is their WHY. So if we want loyal following and long term success, we need to get real and stay true to WHY we started anything.
Should You Read This?
Here’s WHY you should read this: If you want long-lasting success, motivated to get out of bed every single day because you love what you do.
Start with Why educates you all about why you should start with why with an overwhelming number of compelling case studies. Throughout the book, this sentence appears over and over again, “People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.”
Message received, loud and clear.
Halfway through the book, I was actually getting frustrated with the example of Ferrari versus Toyota, Southwest Airlines, and Apple, but I get what Simon Sinek was doing.
He was burning the idea of WHY we should start with why onto my mind and he achieved it.
Why did he have to do that? My guess? Because we live in a world so used to WHATs… Because WHY is something that language can’t really express. Unless we have the knack for it, which can be developed.
Then Simon Sinek showed us how The Golden Circle and the different ways to look at the WHY, HOW & WHAT, and their relationships. We’re so used to first approaching WHAT then moving from outside in. But he argues,
“When communicating from the inside out, however, the WHY is offered as the reason to buy and the WHATs serve as the tangible proof of that belief.”
Start with Why argues that our WHY & HOW is aligned to our limbic brain, whereas the WHAT works the neo-cortex— I take to mean logic, structure, and all things tangible and obvious. But WHAT can’t explain why we do things like risking our lives when we sky-drive, bungee jump etc. As for WHY, it’s because “The power of the limbic brain is astounding. It not only controls our gut decisions, but it can influence us to do things that seem illogical or irrational.”
Start With Why also presents the implications and consequences if we were to ignore or forget our WHY and sucked into the WHATs. They are so compelling that I was dying to read the book to the end because as I was reading the book, I just couldn’t help but question, what’s my WHY? How can I get clear with my WHY, be disciplined to stay true to my WHY every single day? Am I a WHY-type or a HOW-type?
This book is excruciatingly detailed in its provision of examples to prove why we should Start With Why but Simon Sinek’s writing style, fun and engaging, but at times too preachy, kept me going during parts of the book with lengthy and repetitive examples.
But it accomplished its goal.
My WHY for The Write Motive is clear.
But now I’m on the mission to find my personal WHY through his WHY Discovery Course & sequel book, Find Your Why.
Buy or Borrow?
Buy 2. One for your friend and one for yourself to egg each other on so that you won’t give up halfway through those lengthy and repeat examples.
Thanks for reading and supporting my challenge!
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