In turn this helped foster feelings of inspiration within the minds of colleagues and customers alike. In the years since, millions have been impacted by the clout of his concepts.
Sinek begins his teaching with an essential question: Why do some people and organizations have greater pioneering power, greater persuasive abilities, and greater profitability than others? How are some more successful at commanding superior feelings of loyalty from both customers and employees? Why is it so hard to repeat your success, no matter how much success you’ve previously had?
Start with Why explains that the leaders from around the world who have achieved the greatest levels of influence all reason, behave, and connect the same way. The interesting revelation that Sinek has in his work is that it tends to be the complete opposite of what everyone else is doing. He describes this influential concept as The Golden Circle, an outline from which companies can be built and people can be inspired.
In Simon Sinek's 2014 TED Talk, he introduces the Golden Circle.
Why, How, What. Every person on the planet knows their "What." It's what they do every day. Some organizations know "How" - their SOP's their proprietary processes. People who understand their "Why" are very rare.
If Apple were like everyone else, the marketing message might sound like this:
"(what)We make great computers. (how)They are beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly. Want to buy one?" - Meh
Here's how Apple actually communicates:
"(why)Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is to make our products beautifully designed, simple to use, and user-friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?" - Wow! All Simon did was reverse the order of the statements to Start With Why.
People don't buy "what" you do, they buy "why" you do it.
For more on Simon Sinek, check out The Infinite Game Starts with Values
