Summaries For Me: Start With Why
Start With Why — Simon Sinek
Disclaimer: This summary is just a quick note for myself. You might read words that don’t exist in English.
2nd December 2018
Brussels, Belgium
Link to website: here
The Seven Point Summary
1. Find your WHY and live from it each day
This is the same as loving the process. Do what you do for the love of the process and the result will take care of itself.
2. The role of the Leader: Keep the WHY burning bright
Great leaders provide a purpose to their followers.
Great leaders are an embodiment of the WHY → their own WHY.
Great leaders can articulate the un-articulatable WHY.
2.1 The Golden Circle in the organizational hierarchy
Executive Level (Founder/CEO) — Protector of the WHY
Managerial Level — Figure-outer of the HOW
The Employees — Showcaser(s) of the WHAT
3. WHY needs HOW:
Passion needs Structure to succeed in the long run.
4. Let’s take some Tests:
4.1 The Celery Test:
If you’re someone who wants to be healthy and I saw your grocery list, is it more A or B?
A — chips, coke, chocolates, etc
B — Celery, eggs, veggies, etc
Does your WHAT you do stay consistent with WHY you do things?
4.2 School Bus Test:
If the Founder got hit by a bus today, can the organisation still run with the same intensity of the WHY?
5. Law of Diffusion of Innovation:
6. Origin of the WHY + The Split
Think about your origin story:
You know the WHY only by looking back and reflecting. Not by looking forward.
Common themes in a strong WHY:
Pain; suffering; conflict; discomfort; challenge
Know Thyself
Reference: The Matrix (This is a separate post by itself)
The movement starts with YOU:
You need to be inspired first, to inspire others.
When you know WHAT you’re doing, but don’t know WHY results usually in: THE SPLIT
- On Personal level: depression, burnout, fatigue, stress, anxiety, etc.
- Organizational setting: “Looking after my own ass” mindset, fraud, deceit, poisonous culture, etc.
7. My Final Thoughts:
- All of this is a wildly optimistic opinion. Of course not all of the points in the book are practical — but it is definitely worth fighting for.
- Action/influence happens in the fringes
- Some ideas felt repetitive. Same ideas explained in different contexts with different examples.
I feel this probably because I already watched a lot of videos, interviews, read multiple articles and was exposed to this concept at least 5 years ago (in 2013). But I read the book only now.
Some examples of influential people who I feel fit into the definition of “Living from their WHYs” (in no particular order)
Why I would recommend this book
- Frameworks in this book surely gave me a new filter to understand leadership, human behaviour, influence and communication.
2. Reflect on finding my own WHYs
3. Understand decision making better and how I can improve it: Filtering your decisions through your WHY
Questions I had after reading this book
“Leaders trust in their gut more than external voices”
1) How does one listen to their gut better?
2) How can my gut get smarter?
Next “To-Read” Suggestion:
