Start With Why

Posted on March 16, 2022

Author: Simon Sinek
My Rating: 3/5

For some reason, I thought this book would be more from an individual perspective rather than an organizational perspective. However, it was the opposite – it was about companies starting with Why. The premise is that most companies start with What they do and might talk about how How they do it, to differentiate themselves. Very few ever talk about Why they do what they do, besides money. The argument is that the great companies start with Why and end with What, when communicating to the public and to their employees.

So it basically talked through a lot of the iconic companies – especially with leaders with big personalities:

• Apple
• Southwest
• Apple
• Ford
• Apple
• Apple

This book seemed to think of Apple as the ideal company and used it too many times as an example — but, all of these companies were successful because their leaders started with why. Then their leaders were able to communicate their why to employees and customers.

The best example in the book was Apple’s marketing… if Apple started with What, they’re marketing message could be:

We make great computers.

They’re beautifully designed, simple to use and user-friendly.

Wanna buy one?

instead, it since Apple does start with Why, they’re marking message is:

Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently.

The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user-friendly.

And we happen to make great computers.

Wanna buy one?

This was interesting and a good point.

I was really hoping for more discussion on how to discover your Why. But, I do think this idea could be taken from a personal point of view as well – but the struggle is discovering your Why.