Do You Know Why?

  Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their successes over and over?

 People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started with why. Their natural ability to start with why enabled them to inspire those around them and to achieve remarkable things.

 Three and a half years ago I made a discovery. I discovered that all the most inspiring and successful leaders, regardless if they are individuals or organizations, regardless of their size or industry, all think, act, and communicate in the exact same way—and it’s the complete opposite of what everyone else does. I called this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

Any organization can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate why. WHY is not money or profit—those are always results. Why does your organization exist? Why does it do the things it does? Why do customers really buy from one company or another? Why are people loyal to some leaders, but not others?

Start With Why is a book for those who want to learn to inspire others and for those who want to find someone to inspire them.  Start with Why is available now at your favorite book seller.

Special Promotion: Buy two copies, give one away and we can inspire even more people...

Comments

[David Schnurman]

Simon I just taught a class at Pace about starting a business. I played your interview on TrueNYC and this was a student's post about WHY on the first blog he created in class.

http://georgecarter.wordpress.com/

Interview that inspired him:
http://truenyc.com/entrepreneur-simon-sinek.html

[Jared Yellin-Brandentity]

I am intrigued by your PHILOSOPHY of "WHY" because once you are able to determine why you do, what you do, then this behavior can be replicated in other areas of an individuals life as well. But with this being said, CAN IT REALLY BE REPLICATED? The reason I pose this question is because I recently wrote about this concept (http://www.jaredyellin.com/2009/10/the-missing-link/) and I refer to it as the MISSING LINK. My philosophy states that WHY can be interchanged with PASSION. The reason Martin Luther King, Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers have been able to impact the world in such a profound way is because their WHY possessed an insatiable amount of passion. Their willingness to commit and stay committed to their vision far surpassed any of the compromises that would have to take place in their lives. Some would say that MANY people possess passion, but are unable to do what these legends have done in the past, and I would agree, but the difference been the ordinary and extraordinary is the magnitude of their passion. These three men became their vision, they lived, and even died, for the purposes of making their dreams become a reality. Passion provided these individuals with their purpose and their never ending desire to consistently DEFINE their WHY in order to leave a legacy. You are doing AMAZING work Steve and if there was a way that we could combine our WHY's and PASSION, I would enjoy that greatly!