Start with Why is a book that I finished a few days ago, and I think it’s one of the most powerful that I’ve read in 2020.
So many of us go through processes backward – first, we figure out what we want to do, then how we want to do it, and only then trying to justify it with a “why”. That is if we ever even get that far – so many of us never even make it to that point. Instead, we just react to our “whats” and “hows”, never giving the “why” much thought.
Simon Sinek hopes to convince us to change this.
Of course, any review of this book should, itself, start with why:
As some of you may know, I’ve been reading a lot over the last few years.
Well, I’ve read a lot for most of my life, but I’ve been far more focused on it for the last few years (ever since wrapping up the SuperLearner Master Class back in 2017).
My reading has been a mix of both fiction and non-fiction, and the non-fiction has touched on many subjects – personal development, sales, marketing, leadership, communication, information technology, focus, productivity, business, memory, meta-learning…I could go on, but I think you get the idea.
How do I remember and take action on all of these books?
As I read non-fiction, I take notes in the form of mind maps (typically using a program called Coggle). These then get loaded into spaced repetition software, which helps me automate my review process so I can keep this knowledge fresh in my mind. I’ve also created a list of actionable items from these books (that I will share sometime when it isn’t an ugly mess in Evernote – more on that to come). These get worked into my habits or action items in my personal productivity system so that I remember to actually do something with the information, rather than simply taking in more and more information.
Recently, I thought to myself that I should share this information with people. Maybe you can use it. Maybe you can learn something. Maybe it can help you discover books that can change your life, much as I have.
My goal here is not to replace actually reading the book for you. I don’t think book summary services can ever be as powerful as the books, themselves. Think about it: so much of the information you hear all the time isn’t new, especially in the personal development realm. Many of the underlying concepts are the same as they’ve ever been. What these authors do, though, is say it in a different way. They create processes. They give us concrete, actionable steps. They put old information into new contexts or change how it is presented to us. Because of this, information we’ve heard over and over can feel new, can seem like an epiphany…when really it’s just that we finally found it packaged in a way that speaks to us.
So, that being said, these reviews will be kept fairly brief. I want to stick to high-level concepts, a few actionable items, and a big takeaway. That’s it.
I’m not going to attempt to distill the book down into 1500 words or summarize the entire thing.
In fact, I’m hoping that my posts will inspire you to read the book yourself, to discover and experience the joy and wisdom for yourselves.
So, without further ado, here is my first attempt.
Book: Start with Why by Simon Sinek
Download the Mind Map
Five Key Concepts
- People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it. Martin Luther King had a dream, not a plan. Steve Jobs and Apple had a clearly defined purpose – to put “1000 songs in your pocket” to “challenge the status quo”, not to sell you a “20GB mp3 player” or a smartphone. Disney creates “family-friendly experiences and memories”, not simply “movies” and “theme parks”. Don’t tell people what you want to do, tell them why you want to do it.
- In marketing, we can use manipulations to try to encourage purchases. These manipulations include pricing tricks, promoting FOMO, catering to aspirations, and leveraging our need for social acceptance or novelty. This creates a transactional relationship with our customers, though…we might get the sale, but we do not inspire our customers, we don’t create long-term relationships with them.
- Simon Sinek advocates building goals, products, and even companies by starting with why, moving to how the why will be accomplished, and then finally deciding what will be created in order to bring it about. It is a cohesive process. When this process breaks, we lose motivation, we flounder from what to what with no over-arching guide. We end up busy, but not necessarily effective, and our goals fragment and spread us too thin. This is especially true as we gain success – whether that’s personally or professionally. When we get lost in the what, we lose track of our why.
- A strong leader needs two things: a clear why, and the ability to communicate that why. With no clear why the organization is stuck being reactionary – it can only ever react to outside forces, it can not create. Without the ability to communicate the why then the leader is the only one who understands and their audience will not be able to connect with them. They will seem like they have their head in the clouds.
- Sometimes, visionaries with a strong why need a counterpart that can help them figure out the how. Walt Disney had his brother Roy to help him with the how. Steve Jobs had Steve Wozniak. Bill Gates had Steve Ballmer (why are so many famous people in tech named Steve?). Neither the why nor the how is “better” than the other – they are symbiotic. How people need a vision, why people can get a bit too lost in theirs, and need the practicality of the how people to make it work.
Three Actionable Items
- Before you set up your next goal or project, write down a clear why. Why am I doing this? Why do I care? How does this project, goal, or task fit in with that why? If you have a company, what is its why? How do their products communicate it?
- The next time you want to persuade someone, start by telling them your why instead of your what or how. Remember, MLK had a “dream”, not a “12-step Plan”. Steve Jobs created a culture around his product. What are you trying to accomplish with your whats?
- Give your life, your goals, your projects, and/or your company what Sinek calls “The Celery Test“.
My One Big Takeway
In everything you do, make sure you have a clearly defined why. It keeps us motivated and inspired. It keeps us connected to our driving purpose, the force that compels us to take action. It also keeps our efforts cohesive and moving us towards something.
After this, create your how – how will you accomplish your why? How will you manifest this why into actions, products, or projects?
Finally, consider your what – what, specifically, will you do or create in order to serve your how, which is based solidly on your why, which keeps everything in order and moving in the same direction.
Thank you for reading this post. Please let me know what I can do to improve upon it, or how I might be able to make these better going forward.
If you want to grab the book for yourself, you can grab it on Amazon here.
If you want to step up your own reading and learning, then check out the SuperLearner Master Class or get in touch with me and we can talk about how YOU can become a SuperLearner!
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