Why do We Need to “Start with Why”?

-- A book review of “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek.

By Nyanaselvi and c.j.

In 2009, author Simon Sinek gave a TED called “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.” This 18 and a half minute long viral TED talk called on business leaders to “Start With Why”.?

Earlier, Simon Sinek experienced an internal shift away from his “Why.”??Three years after starting his consulting business, he was depressed and certain he was going out of business.?Someone explained how the brain works and taught him that buying behavior is rooted in biology.?He thus discovered his “Why” and set out to inspire people to do the things that inspire them..

A later version became the third most popular TED video of all time.?The book “Start with Why” then sought to expand on the ideas that were in the talk, and help organizations be more successful.

Regardless of the industry's size, great leaders know why they do what they do. They follow their passion and can articulate their vision clearly.?When leaders are clear of the “Why”, their purpose can inspire those around them.?Authentic leaders are those who can motivate and inspire you..

This book review will look at some of the key concepts espoused by the book, and how those concepts can be applied in coaching.?This review also serves as a critique on some of the lost opportunities that the book could have covered, and how leaders can benefit from different interpretations of the key concepts.

The key concepts that stood out include:

1. Manipulation vs. Purpose and Inspiration
2. The Golden Circle: Expanding Upon “Why”
3. Development of Open and Trusting Relationships
4. Finding Your True Believers and Reflecting Back

Manipulation vs. Purpose and Inspiration

Many businesses influence customers by leveraging price, promotions, fear, peer pressure, aspirations, and novelty.?Such manipulation harvests short-term transactions, but it doesn’t earn long-term customer loyalty.?Aspirational messages and innovation are more subtle forms of manipulation.?While fear focuses on the negative, aspiration focuses on the positive.?While manipulation may instill repeat business, people could do business multiple times without being loyal.?Customers who feel loyal would be willing to turn down a better product or a better price to continue doing business with you.?Organizations should focus on earning such loyalty instead of using manipulation.

Great organizations, on the other hand, seek to inspire.?This could be having a clear purpose or a compelling reason why the organization exist in the first place.?The focus here is not about “being profitable”, as profitability is a result, not a purpose.

The same principles apply to coaching as well.?Coaching at a superficial level tends to be transactional, i.e. focusing only on “What” the client wants to achieve.?Coaching at a deeper level tends to be more transformational, i.e. focusing more on the “Who” and “Why” in addition to the “What”.?

The Golden Circle: Expanding Upon “Why”

Great leaders follow a pattern called the Golden?Circle with the “Why” in the centre, surrounded by a more significant circle mark “How” and then surrounded by the biggest circle labeled “What.”?Companies with a clear sense of “why” tend to ignore their competition.?On the other hand, those with a vague sense of why are obsessed with what others are doing.?Leaders who define their companies according to what they make or how they make it may eventually trap themselves.?They become just like everyone else and compete on price, quality, service, and the like without realizing it.?Each new competitor in the marketplace makes it more challenging for those organizations to differentiate the offerings, enhance the manipulation must begin anew..

In the book, it seemed that Simon Sinek framed the source of “Why” as passion,in a way that it will be passion that will drive purpose.?However, in later TED talks, Simon Sinek defined “Why” for leadership purposes.?This includes the core values and beliefs that leaders hold dear, and are the key motivation factors that drive them achieve greater goals.?

In a deeper sense, “Why” could even be the deeper meanings that an individual or an organization that is continuously seeking.?Sometimes in coaching, the “Why” could be intertwine with the “Who”, as in “Who” does the client want to become, and why??In the book, Simon Sinek asked readers to “assume you know your Why”, whereas in coaching, we help clients in their journey to discover theirs.?

In our view, “Why” can also be framed as context and goal relevance.??In its application on coaching, when responding to the client’s goals or outcomes, we may ask “why is this goal important to you?”?We may even ask “why is this goal important to you?now?”, so as to clarify the contextual relevance of the goal.

In addition to defining the “Why”, knowing the “How” and “What” are also just as important, according to Simon Sinek.?“How” refers to the specific actions taken to realize the “Why”.?“What” refers to the result or proof that the “Why” has been achieved.

In coaching terms, we often ask our clients “how would success look like?”, or “What will be the ideal situation look like to you?”?These are questions that address the “What” as mentioned in the book, although in coaching these results or proof have not been materialized yet.?The intention of such coaching questions then will be to paint a picture of the “What” in the client’s mind, so that the client could take the actions to accomplish them.

In coaching, a lot of the “How” would be explored by evoking awareness and expand new ways of thinking and possibilities to achieve the “What”.?In addition, the coaching process partners with the client to design actions or seek for the support and resources needed to accomplish the “Why”.

Developing Open and Trusting Relationships

Consumers want to do business with those they trust, so they seek companies that seem to share their values and beliefs.?These sellers make shoppers feel part of something bigger than themselves.?People make intuitive decisions based on emotion.?When people make complex decisions, they tend to dismiss objective facts and figures and rely more on instinct.?The goal of the business should be to focus on the people who believe in what you think.?Great leaders rely on their instincts or intuition. They can thus identify a void in the market before their customers detect it.

Building trust with customers has two components: first, build trust with your employees and then back your words with actions.?When the Golden Circle is in balance, all those who share the organization’s worldview will be drawn to it and its products. People perform at their best when part of a culture that fits their values and beliefs.?Great leaders find suitable matches and hire people who believe in the company’s purpose

The book mentioned about how a new CEO of Continental Airlines turned the company around by developing an open and trusting relationships with the employees.?The previous CEO had made the executive level off-limits to most employees, and adopted a distrusting stance.?As such, it was likely that the employees did not trust the previous CEO too.

The new CEO then created new incentives to make all employees focus on common goals.?He then made frequent communications,and made sure that those promises were delivered.?As it was not mentioned in the book how successful those new measures were, we would assume that Continental Airlines performed better after implementing those changes.

The fundamental tenet in coaching is to build and maintain trust with the client, so that the conversation can be as open as possible.?Effective coaching conversations tend to be open ones where the client feel safe to share thoughts and feelings that are perhaps buried deep, while the coach encourages the client to explore potential and possibilities.

Finding Your True Believers and Reflecting Back

You need action-oriented people to make your vision a reality.?It would be best if you had people focused on being your implementers.?Even inspiring and charismatic leaders need followers to create the vehicle to move their ideas forward.?The visionary leader defines the “Why” and then implements the “How.”?Great leaders inspire people to act.?Those who genuinely lead create a following of people who work not because they have been influenced but because they felt inspired.

A true sense of “why you do what you do” comes from looking inside yourself and self-reflection.?By pondering where you have been and what your purpose is, you can lead yourself to where you want to go.?You shall gain further insights into yourself and discover deeper purposes to take meaningful action through coaching.

Conclusion

When Simon Sinek wrote “Start with Why”, he was working in the advertising industry, and had not achieved the super-stardom in leadership thought as he had today.?A lot of of the examples stated in the book tend to be marketing in nature, instead of leadership or people development.?

There certainly are many concepts mentioned in the book that run parallel and could be applied to coaching.?Simon Sinek had since developed mature ideas on leadership and people development, as seen in his TED talks over the years.?Perhaps it is high time for Simon Sinek to update “Start with Why” with a newer edition, with the applications for leadership, coaching and people development.