Author Simon Sinek discovered that well-known successful people such as Martin Luther King, Steve Jobs, The Wright Brothers, Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela all have one thing in common: they started with "Why?" Those who start with why he discovered, never manipulate, they inspire. People follow them not because they are told to but because they want to. He discovered that those who have had the most influence in the world all think the same way and it is the complete opposite to the way everyone else thinks.
Sinek explains how any organisation can tell you what they do, some can convey how they do it but very few can articulate why they do it. Why isn't the profit they make, neither is it the money it makes, these are merely the results. Why is it that a person will buy from one company but not another? Why are people loyal to some leaders but not others? Why does the business exist and do the things it does?
Sharing a range of real-life stories of businesses including names like British Airways, Virgin, South West Airlines, Apple, Microsoft, IBM Sinek demonstrates how starting with why works in big and small businesses alike. He shares exactly what it takes to lead and inspire.
In the book Sinek talks about a "golden circle". If you imagine a bullseye type of circle with three circles in the whole, with the bullseye or centre being "Why", the next portion being "How" and the outer ring being "What", in the book Sinek relates this to the human brain. He tells us that the human brain is made up from the limbic part (the inner two circles) and the outer neo-cortex. The limbic or centre two circles is the part of our brain which is responsible for our emotions, feelings and drives things like trust and loyalty. The limbic part is responsible for all our human behaviour, all decision making and has no capacity for language. The neocortex is responsible for rational and analytic thought and language. It is detail orientated, textual and statistical and relates only to the "What" segment of the circle. So it's basically our biological makeup which determines our buying decisions.
When we communicate from the outside in - yes people can understand all the facts and figures, features and benefits of whatever it is they are considering buying or buying into but that doesn't drive their behaviour. How you make them feel will drive their desire to purchase and that starts from the inside out. Remember the limbic part of the brain doesn't have language, only feelings so if something "just doesn't feel right" then no purchase will be made. This is where people are leading with their heart and gut instincts. If you don't know why you do what you do and people respond to what you do then how are you going to appeal to their limbic brain? In short, the goal is not to sell to people what it is you have, the goal is to sell to people who believe what you believe. Likewise, the goal is not to hire people who just need a job but to hire people who believe what you believe. He tells us if you hire people just because they need a job then they will work for your money but if you hire people because they believe what you believe then they will work for you with their blood, sweat and tears.
Sinek tells the story of the aviators the Wright brothers and Samuel Pierpont Langley to illustrate his point. In the earliest part of the 20th century, the pursuit of man-powered flight was, Sinek says like the dot com of the day. Everyone wanted to be the first. Samuel Pierpont Langley had on paper what everyone would assume would be the winning formula - he was given $50,000 by the war department to "figure out" this flying machine. Money was no problem, he held a seat at Havard and worked at the Smithsonian. He was extremely well connected, he knew all the big minds of the day and he hired the best minds money could buy, not only that - the market conditions were fantastic. The New York times followed him around everywhere and everyone was rooting for Langley. So how come we've never heard of Simon Pierpont Langley?
Sinek explains, a few hundred miles away in Dayton, Ohio, Orville and Wilbur Wright - who had none of what you may consider a recipe for success, they had no money - they paid for their dream with the proceeds from their bicycle shop, not a single person on the Wright brothers team had a college education - not even Orville or Wilbur - and the New York Times followed them around nowhere. The difference was, shared Sinek, the Wright brothers were driven by a cause, purpose, a belief. They believed that if they could figure out this flying machine that it would change the course of the world.
Samuel Pierpont Langley was different; he wanted to be rich and he wanted to be famous. He was in pursuit of the result - he was in pursuit of the riches. What happened was the people who believed in the Wright brothers dream worked with them with their blood, sweat and tears. The others just worked for the paycheck. Stories are told about how every time the Wright brother went out they took with them five sets of parts because that is how many times they would crash before they returned for supper. Then on December 17th, 1903, the Wright brothers took flight and nobody was there to see it - it was publicised a few days later. The day they took flight, Langley quit.
In summary, this book is a must-read for anyone who wants to inspire others in life or set their business apart from their competition.
Reviewed by Sharon Malone
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