Know the Why

Start With WHY- a book from Simon Sinek

It's Almost 3 years, i have been reading a lot of books and there are some books, I want to share about it and why it's so important to know and understand the importance.

Who should read this book?

Answer: New business owners, product developers, Marketing staff, aspiring Entrepreneurs.

Part 1

Start with why means start with a purpose. Why does your company exist? Why do you want to be a leader? What is your purpose in life? These are all important questions. You will find out that the multi- million companies succeed because they started with a purpose. They started with why.

The subtitle of this book is "How Great Leaders Inspire People to Take Action". Great leaders do not only refer to politicians. It also refers to the leading companies of an industry. Apple is a leading computer brand. But it also entered the mobile phone industry and the small electronics industry. Later, we will know why.

Part 2

"Inspire people to Take Action" is what Great leaders do. Good politicians do not only make people vote them. They inspire. Likewise, leading companies do not only make people buy. They give inspiration.

Great leaders have followers who are loyal to them. The people are willing to sacrifice or to go out of their way to follow what the leader says. That is because they are inspired.

Successful companies have loyal customers. The competitors may have a new or better product. But the loyal customers do not buy at once. They are loyal to one brand. How did this happen? This is because the company started with why

Manipulation V.S. Inspiration

Motorola released its flip top model phone RAZR in 2004. Hollywood celebrities and prime ministers bought the new product. It was a huge success. Motorola sold 50 million RAZR units.

However, within 4 years, competitors have already copied the RAZR. They have created new phones with even better features. Motorola lost the spotlight.

The company used manipulation and not inspiration. That is why it lost the customers. Motorola released a new product. It has made people buy. But it did not make people become loyal to Motorola.

What Motorola did with RAZR is just a novelty. That is just one form of manipulation. Loyalty requires a higher cause. To inspire people is not that easy.

When you manipulate people, you just make them follow for a short time. You will make them take action but you will not have their loyalty. That is not what great leaders do.

What are the forms of manipulation? They are fear, peer pressure, aspirations, price, promotion and novelty. To gain votes, a politician may create fear. He may use peer pressure, give money or make promises. To increase sales, companies drop prices. They give promos and incentives or release new products. But these are not examples of good leadership.

Manipulations only make companies and organizations weaker. They make people follow but only for a short period of time. Manipulations cost a lot of money but they are not effective.

RAZR is not an innovation. And so, Motorola was not able to inspire people. The fax machine, the microwave oven, the light bulb and iTunes are all innovations. They are products which changed a Cron more en they have changed the society

Think Different

Think Different. That is the motto of Apple since its foundation in 1964. It is evident in all of Apple's products and advertisements. To think different is the reason behind everything that the company says and does. Apple has that strong purpose

ITunes changed the music industry in the early 2000s, people were burning music on their CDs Firacy became a problem for the recording companies. With iTunes, Steve Jobs offeredan alternative. The music industry wa saved because of iTunes and the iPod.

Did you know that it wasn't actually Apple which invented the mp3 player? It was Creative Technology Ltd from Singapore. But why did Apple led the market?

Creative advertised their product as "Sgb mp3 player. But Apple said the iPod is "1,000 songs in your pocket. Creative told the market WHAT the product is. But Apple told the market WHY it needs to buy the iPod. "People don't buy WHAT you do. They buy WHY you do it"

Apple also made an innovation with the iPhone. It is not just a new product like Motorola's RAZR. Because of iPhone, smart phones became a trend. Nokia, Erickson and Motorola also created their own touchscreen devices. The graphic interface of iPhone and its simple design changed the mobile phone industry

Did you know that Dell released its own mp3 player year 20037 But it wasn't a success. This is because everyone knows Dell is a company that makes computers. It would not feel right to buy an mp3 or even a mobile phone from Dell After a few years, Dell decided to pull out the product.

How did Apple shifted from being just a computer company to a comparty that also makes mobile phones and gadgets? This is because for Apple, to think different comes first. The processes and products the company makes only follows

Apple started with WHY. The company, first of all, has established a strong purpose and that is to think different. We know Apple "by WHY it does things not WHAT it does". The legal name of Apple when it was founded was Apple Computers Inc. But the company changed to just Apple Inc. in 2007. This is because Apple is "more than just a computer company".

Apple became a leader not only in the computer industry but aho in the small electronics industry and the mobile phone industry. This is because Apple's purpose remains constant no matter WHAT do.

Apple did what HP and Dell cannot. That is to enter other industries and make innovations HP and Dell meanwhile, tried but they became stuck with just making.

Part 3

More than just coffee

Likewise, we feel belongingness in companies with the same beliefs as ours. We buy their products because we have the same WHY. It means we believe in what the company believes in

The sense of belongingness is innate in us humans. We need to feel safe and connected. We always seek that feeling. It is a basic need for us to belong. It we take a vacation to other countries, seeing people from our own country makes us feel like home.

Those products and brands make us feel like we belong. We feel connected to the company. We feel connected to the other customers who bought the same product

Starting with WHY has more impact because humans are driven by feelings. The Golden Circle is effective. This is because it relates to the major levels of our brain.

"People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it" WHAT Starbucks offers is coffee. But the purpose is to make people feel comfortable while drinking coffee. Starbucks gives people nice experience and nice feeling. There are other coffee shops out there but people choose Starbucks because of the feeling it gives

Howard Schultz is not the founder of Starbucks. He only joined the company in 1982. That is 10 years after the first branch was opened in Seattle. But we know Starbucksas we do today because of Howard Schultz

he has that vision that Starbucks is more than just coffee. Schultz was frustrated with the three founders because they could not see that Zev Siege Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bower are just content with selling people coffee beans

Schultz was inspired by the espresso bars in Italy, he wanted to give customers a comfortable place where they can stay. Schultz wanted Starbucks to be a third space. That is, aside from home and work.

Before Schutz entered Starbucks, there were not many coffee shops in United States. Only universities have coffee shops. But Starbucks changed that Drinking coffee became a culture because of Starbucks

People can relax at Starbucks. They can read books, do work in their laptops or bond with friends. Howard Schultz made that possible because he has that strong vision. He has that strong purpose.From only 1,000 stores, Starbucks opened 13,000 branches in just ten years

Howard Schutz is a great leader because he started with why He came to Starbucks with a purpose. People have related to that feeling that he wants to give.

Coner coffee shops out there may offer good coffee. But Starbucks has already made a mark. It started a culture, in its own way, Starbucks has changed a society.

Part 4

Have you seen a man with a Harley-Davidson tattoo? Why is it that anyone would tattoo a company logo on their skin? Can you imagine a man with other companies as a tattoo? This happened because Harley-Davidson Is good at telling people their purpose.

The Harley-Davidson logo became a symbol that represents a belief in America, it is common that you would see a Harley tattoo. For the drivers of Harley, the brand has become a lifestyle Harley has achieved it after years of consistency, discipline and clarity.

Everything Harley-Davidson does and says is consistent with their belief. The company is disciplined in following its own values. It communicates to people clearly the purpose that the company believes in the people understood that and they were inspired.

Eventually, the logo became more than a symbol of the company products. The logo became a symbol of a belief. Randy Fowler, a man with a Harley tattoo, said it symbolizes who I am. Mostly it says I'm an American

Disney

We already know the Golden Circle. The CEO is the leader. He embodies the purpose of the company. Below him are the executives. They believe in the CEO's purpose. They know HOW to bring that PURPOSE into reality

The leaders are what we call the WHY-types. They are visionaries. They are optimists. The Weir types are people who believe that everything they imagine can be done.

The HOW- types are realists. They are more practical. They see the world as it is. The HOW- types are people who build structures. They know HOW to get things done. The WHY-types cannot do it alone. Those who know WHY need those who know HOW

Take for example the brothers Wait and Roy Disney, Walt Disney worked as a cartoon artist for advertisements But he wanted to create animated movies. In 1923, Hollywood is only blooming.

Roy Disney is 8 years older. He works as a banker, Roy admires Wait's Imagination and talent. But he knew that Wat is not good with business affairs. Wait also takes huge risks. Like other WHY-types, Wat is busy dreaming about the future.

A biographer said, "Walt Disney dreamed, drew and imagined, Roy stayed in the shadow, forming an empire" Roy used his talents in finance and business. He helped Wait turns his dreams into reality. Roy Disney founded Buena Vista, the company that distributed the Disney films

Part 5

Wal-Mart

Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, grew up in the Great Depression. He knows the value of hard work. He started Wal-Mart in Bentonville, Arkansas. It was just one retail store. There are other retail stores out there that offer lower prices. But Wal-Mart rose to the top. Today, the sales of Wal-Mart sum up to $44 billion every year.

But the secret of Sam Walton lies not in hard work and cheap prices. Walton has a deeper cause. He has a strong belief that motivates him. Sam Walton believes in people. "He believed that if he looked after people, people would look after him. The more Wal-Mart could give to employees, customers and the community, the more that employees, customers and the community would give back to Wal-Mart.

Sam Walton worked on weekends. He insisted on using his pick-up truck. He also remembered the birthdays of his employees. Sam Walton is always humble. He dedicated himself in service to others. He kept his salary below $350,000 yearly.

That is the purpose of Sam Walton. He wants to serve the people. That is a purpose bigger than himself. This

is the reason why Wal-Mart became a huge success. Wal-Mart is the means to Sam Walton's purpose.

However, Sam Walton died on April 5, 1992 because of bone marrow cancer. His oldest son, S. Robeson Walton, succeeded him as the chairman of Wal-Mart. Robeson said that nothing will change in the company's policy, control and direction. But that simply was not true.

Many changed in Wal-Mart after Sam died. There were reports of mistreated customers and employees. There

became a split within Wal-Mart. The result is that Costco, a new retail store, was formed.

The CEOs who succeeded Sam Walton were not able to carry on his purpose. They did not carry on his belief to Sam's belief to serve the people. Wal-Mart lost its reputation. Michael T. Duke became CEO in 2009. His yearly salary is $5.43 million.

Conclusion

Great leaders like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Sam Walton embodied their WHY. When they left Apple, Microsoft and Wal-Mart, there became a huge problem. The companies forgot their purpose.

The next CEO must be inspired by the great leader. It is not enough that he has good credentials. He must believe in what the founder believes in. Otherwise, the purpose of the company will become unclear. It will lose its reputation.

The lesson is that the purpose must be deeply rooted in the organization. That is even if the founder is gone, the purpose would carry on and the company will continue to succeed.

Now you know how to start with WHY. Think about your purpose. What do you believe in? From there, you can establish your HOW (process) and WHAT (product).

Do not let your vision be fuzzy. Be mindful of how you think, act and communicate. Make sure that they are in line with your purpose. Remember that, those with a purpose greater than themselves achieve success.

Stay tuned for more book summaries in detail,

Yours and mine dream will come true.