Image: Start with Why by Len Lantz (CC BY-NC-ND)
Synopsis: Len's Star Rating: 9 out of 10. A provocative and optimistic book on living out your purpose and communicating your values in terms of “why.”
BY LEN LANTZ, MD, author of unJoy / 6.16.2024; No. 124
Disclaimer: Yes, I am a physician, but I’m not your doctor, and this article does not create a doctor-patient relationship. This article is for educational purposes and should not be seen as medical advice. You should consult with your physician before you rely on this information. This post also contains affiliate links. Please click this LINK for the full disclaimer.
Star Rating – 9 out of 10
Rating guide: 1 = horrible, 5 = average and 10 = wow
Author
Simon Sinek
About the author
Simon Sinek is a best-selling author and motivational speaker on business leadership. He rose to international prominence following his 2009 viral Ted Talk, “How Great Leaders Inspire Action,” delivered shortly before his debut book, Start with Why. His 2016 interview “On Millennials in the Workplace” also achieved immediate fame. Simon Sinek founded The Optimism Company, a leadership learning and development company, and he started the imprint Optimism Press with Penguin Random House. His weekly podcast is A Bit of Optimism. In 2021, he founded The Curve, a nonprofit focused on cultural change in police forces to serve with equity, dignity, and fairness.
General description
Start with Why is a book that seeks to reveal what makes certain leaders and companies unusually well-trusted and successful. Simon Sinek explains that the small number of people and organizations who communicate and live out their purpose in terms of “why,” as opposed to their “what” or “how,” are far more effective and enduring compared to others. He shares stories from his life and uses recent and historical leaders and organizations to make his case that focusing one’s attention and efforts, first and foremost, on their “why” is transformative and a hallmark of most highly inspirational leaders. Topics covered in this book include:
Defining “why,” “what,” and “how” in communicating with and leading others
Explaining the concept of The Golden Circle of leadership efficacy and influence
Correlating the brain’s limbic system and neocortex functioning with “why,” “what,” and “how”
The power and value of competing against yourself rather than others
Unique and most important aspects
Start with Why is inspiring and optimistic, but it’s also provocative. It’s no mystery why some people love it, while others are turned off. It can be painful and threatening to look into your core and then try to define in words your purpose and what really motivates you. Also, it’s potentially annoying when someone else explains a simple truth you think you already know (or should know better). Author Simon Sinek explains that the area of the brain where our “why” resides—the limbic system—does not recognize language. It’s the area of our emotions, the place where we make “gut” decisions.
Like the title commands, the author tells the reader to start with “why.” “What” and “how” matter, but Simon Sinek creates a persuasive argument for spending the most time finding and living out your “why”. While the author sometimes engages the reader with all-or-none arguments and forced dichotomies, he delivers on his subtitle How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Sinek talks repeatedly about Apple as an example company with a clearly defined and expressed “why,” and while this might be tiring for PC lovers, his point is that a surprisingly small number of organizations have clearly defined and remained true to their “why.” Important ideas in this book include:
The limitations of using low prices as a short-term way to drive business
The use of industry manipulations involving “breakage” and “slippage”
The problems inherent in confusing novelty with innovation
The importance of defining one’s values or guiding principles by using verbs (“It’s not ‘integrity,’ it’s ‘always do the right thing.’”)
The Law of Diffusion of Innovations to explain the spread of innovation, technology, and ideas
The Three Degrees of Certainty to fully realize the power of “why”
The limits of celebrity Q-scores in building trust
Mission statements describe “how,” and vision statements (the founder’s intent) explain “why”
The Celery Test to filter decisions through your “why”
The School Bus Test to determine bench strength in an organization
Best quotes
“With a little discipline, any leader or organization can inspire others, both inside and outside their organization, to help advance their ideas and their vision. We can all learn to lead.”
“Great leaders, in contrast, are able to inspire people to act.”
“The Golden Circle is an alternative perspective to existing assumptions about why some leaders and organizations have achieved such a disproportionate degree of influence.”
“It’s worth repeating: people don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.”
“The part of the brain that controls our feelings has no capacity for language.”
“Our limbic brains are smart and often know the right thing to do.”
“No one likes to lose, and most healthy people live their life to win.”
“Average companies give their people something to work on. In contrast, the most innovative organizations give their people something to work toward.”
“Some in management positions operate as if they are in a tree of monkeys. They make sure that everyone at the top of the tree looking down sees only smiles. But all too often, those at the bottom looking up see only asses.”
“The feeling of trust is lodged squarely in the same place as the WHY—the limbic brain—and it’s often powerful enough to trump empirical research, or at least to seed doubt.”
“With a WHY clearly stated in an organization, anyone within the organization can make a decision as clearly and as accurately as the founder.”
“The single greatest challenge any organization will face is…success.”
“When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you.”
Who would enjoy this book?
Readers looking for a book on leadership and entrepreneurship with a fresh perspective on values and purpose will likely enjoy Start with Why.
Who would not enjoy this book?
Readers who dislike seemingly simple concepts, all-or-none comparisons, or a repetition of ideas are unlikely to enjoy Start with Why.
Conclusion
Start with Why is a provocative and optimistic book on living out your purpose and communicating your values in terms of “why.”