Why your 'WHY' is important?

"You are going to get value out of this book: Start with why" - is what my coach told me when he assigned this book as my weekly read. Not being an avid reader I reluctantly began. A few pages in I can already see the mistakes I was making in my interviews. During the interviews I was very good with articulating the WHAT about my job and responsibilities. However, I had no clue about WHY I did what I did. And this book drives this point home very clearly.  

Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle entails the understanding of the Why, How and What in life. It talks about starting with your “why” in life which helps you connect better and establish trust with people when they understand the purpose and meaning behind your words. Your “how” will be those values and principles that guide you during the entire process and finally the “what” will be the result of those actions which includes every little thing that you will say or do to get there. 

The importance of knowing your why is best highlighted through Dell and Apple’s example. While Dell stresses on the features and functionality of its products which is the WHAT of what they do, Apple starts with why and is able to build loyalty and a cult following with those who share Apple’s fundamental beliefs. Because at the end of the day People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.

“Tell us something about yourself”. “Walk us through your resume” “What are some of your strengths and weaknesses”. Answering these questions was fairly easy as they focused on my “WHAT”. It wasn’t until I was asked something as simple as “Why do you want to work in the field of HR?” that made me wonder about the “WHY”. While I struggled to clearly articulate an answer for myself and the interviewer, it also put me on a path of exploring my purpose: WHY AM I DOING WHAT I’M DOING?

With my coach, I shared a lot of stories about my personal and professional life that allowed me to dig deeper and look underneath the hood about the WHY. And here is what I discovered: My “why” in life has always been to serve others in personal & professional capacities. Since I was a child I always went above and beyond to serve the needs of the people around me, especially my grandmother. From a professional perspective, I always ensured that people around me have the tools and knowledge to build their own community so they can survive in all facets of their life. I look at the role of a recruiter in the corporate world as of someone who serves the needs of the organization and the candidate. While working as a recruiter for X years, I have felt living that purpose by serving the needs of the hiring manager & the organization by finding the best-fit talent. Watching that employee succeed in his/her role and seeing the hiring manager drive success and productivity brought immense joy and satisfaction for me. 

If you have not read this book, I highly recommend that you do and take a step forward to learn and discover your personal “why” in life. Just imagine having the clarity and excitement knowing your “why” would bring to the everyday mundanity of life. Simon Sinek does a great job of illustrating the ‘soft’ benefits of exploring the “why”. Majority of the people in the world live an entire lifetime without being aware of their “why”. Being unaware of your personal “why” while having every other ingredient of success is unsustainable for long term success. You may earn good money, but won’t feel excited waking up everyday to work on your office project. I would love to live in a world where nobody spends 8 hours a day doing things they don’t enjoy. Kick starting your days with a strong sense of purpose and zest will also build resilience as one would be less inclined to give up after a failure or setback. 

Why Recruitment? Recruiting excites me because at the end of the day I get to create a positive impact not just in the life of the candidates but also on the transformation of an organization by bringing in a deluge of fresh talent and ideas, while connecting people with their passions.

Why most of us don’t invest in learning our why? Most of us lack the strong and powerful “why” that drives us in life because we have been conditioned to want what others want. As we set our goals after looking at what others want we often end up quitting and giving up along the way because we lack consistency and eventually lose interest. So everything we do ends up being short term and hence makes us short sighted too. However, things would be a lot different if we truly want something and the desire to achieve it comes from within us. 

The book is a reminder that we need to reconsider what brings meaning to our lives because according to Sinek, if your “why” gets fuzzy, you tend to go downhill. Therefore, knowing your why is essential for lasting success and the ability to avoid being lumped in with others.