Start with Why
by Simon Sinek
Start with Why is a book I began to read because I was captivated by the title, curious to understand what the author meant by using the word “Why” and quite frankly heard great things about Simon Sinek. Since Why is a word I use often when starting a new opportunity or when trying to assess the needs of a new client or partner, I was interested to see if that type of Why is what the author was referring to in this book. I realized his Why, although not exactly the way I was using my why in business, was a more profound why with deeper meaning. My why had been more focused on understanding the ins and outs of what and how a company did things the way they did. Understanding the why of what or how gave me access to information that would allow me to provide process improvement recommendations to client, however Simon’s Why was much more than just understanding the reason things are done they way they are, Simon’s Why goes deeper than that to the actual beginning of the Why in your life and business.
To be fair this is one of those books I have read more than once. Like I have said before, when you read a book more than once you get a different perspective from it depending on what is happening in your life at that time. The first time I read this book, although I thought I was reading it for self-growth, I realized later I was reading it to prove a point at a group of executives in a company that I was working for; in that occasion I was reading the book more from an outsider looking in. Now, the second time I was reading this book, was more for actual self-growth. I really took the time to understand the stories the author was sharing and was truly putting the information into perspective in my life, not only from a business perspective but also from a personal perspective. I was able to see how understanding the Why in my life brings a level of meaning that sometimes we miss.
Explaining the Why using the analogy of the Golden Circle is so simple yet so profound, it’s a great way for the author to explain the Why concept. Not just that, it’s interesting to see that the Golden Circle went beyond being just a concept a person came up with to sell books and become a famous speaker, it’s a concept that can be backed by human biology and the way humans behave. There is a direct correlation between concept and human behavior. To illustrate this the author shares various examples but the one that captivated me the most was the example the author calls Give ‘Em a Cathedral. This simple explanation of how two individuals, both doing the job of building a cathedral, had completely different perspectives of their Why in their jobs. One just saw their job as hard work, unfulfilling and never ending while the other saw their job as a passion project because he was building a cathedral that was going to be historic. Both doing the same job, both having a different Why in their lives about their job. Like this there are many analogies, such as the celery test or the story of Walmart or Apple, the author uses to describe the importance of having a Why in our lives.
An additional important tip I took away form the book after reading it a second time was understanding that the Why and the How (concepts of the Golden Circle) do not necessarily need to come from the same person. There are people that are Why people and there are people that are How people. One cannot exist with the other. This gave me a new perspective in understanding my Why. For a long time, I was feeling like I was not going to succeed because I was more of a How person than a Why person but now, I realize I can have success because they are both equally important to have success. In summary it’s a great book that reenergized me in my business venture.
Amazon Link: Start with Why – Simon Sinek