As leaders it is so easy lead from a position of What we do and how we do it. If we want to make a difference in our lives, our kids live those who we lead at work we need to do everything from the position of why.
Simon Sinek wrote a book called “Start with why.” I don’t yet own it but plan to very soon. He gave an amazing TED talk on starting with why. Such a great thought as leaders we try to get people to why rather start with why and get them to what. Wow such an impacting idea. I don’t do this enough Here is a great quote from his talk with his talk embedded below. Take 18 minutes to watch it you will thank me later.
Here’s how Apple actually communicates. “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. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?”Totally different right? You’re ready to buy a computer from me. All I did was reverse the order of the information. What it proves to us is that people don’t buy what you do; people buy why you do it. People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.
5 comments On Why do you do what you do?
Funny.
My HS Pastor and I were talking this over and he explained the concept to me. Seems as if Discovering the why is a catalyst for long term productivity and effectiveness.
Hope your family is doing well. Hope to see you soon!
It's later so I'm thanking you. Great talk. I'll be sharing this with our staff in the morning….
A very timely post for me, Sam. We're in the process of restructuring our special needs classrooms at First Baptist Orlando in order to help more efficiently support parents on the "why?" Didn't think about it that way until just now!
Wow. Very inspirational! It is kind of funny how we can start out for a cause we believe in with "why" as our primary driving force…yet later, we will try to explain it to others by starting at the "what". The "what" can change (like his Apple example), but if the "why" is solid, we are bound to get somewhere! Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely. So good. We don't ask each other why often enough. WHY changes everything.