When we know Why, we can then go on to develop How we do something and once we know How we will know What to do maintaining a clear line sight to the Purpose or Why.Ĭonsisting of 14 chapters, in six effective parts, it is very easy to read in a day or over the weekend. Used the other, and arguably more powerful, way we start with Why we are going to do something. So you can eventually get to Why through starting with What and then How. But very few people in these organisations will know “Why” they do it. In parts of those organisations some will know “How” they do it. Most organisations probably know “What” they do. The Golden Circle is an alternative way of looking at Mission Command / Centralised Intent – subjects of some of our recent blogs. This tool effectively centres around Purpose or Why. Sinek introduces a tool that he has developed called the Golden Circle. The initial parts of the book maintain a remarkable similarity to the TED talk, but the examples in the latter portion show how great leaders change the face of their companies by focusing on “Why”. At the expense of becoming repetitive, all these examples drive home his key point – Start with Why. However, the book has many more examples and stories such as Sam Walton of Walmart, Herb Kellerman of South West Airlines and Bill Gates of Microsoft. The TED Talk essentially covers the content of the book. Sinek became famous or infamous through a 20-minute TED Talk (video below) on the same subject. Sinek talks about great people such as Martin Luther King, Steve Jobs and the Wright brothers in trying to discover what, in a range of disparate people, made then so successful, innovative and influential.

“Start with Why” addresses what is essentially an organisation’s purpose, why does it exist, what need does it fulfil or what problem does it solve? In this book, Sinek addresses what many leaders and managers within organisations I think are missing. Why do you do what you do? This is the key question Simon Sinek asks in his bestselling book. Summarised by Keith Thompson Introduction

Free Start with Why