The Band has been team-reading a fine new book, Start With Why, written by blogosphere author and video host Simon Sinek.
Simon says (sorry, I couldn’t resist) that many companies get their stories bass ackwards in “starting with ‘what‘ instead of ‘why‘.” “Why” is Simon’s shorthand for the core purpose of the enterprise. He maintains that people buy your why, and if they like your why, only then do they buy your what. If you’re a what company, you are probably pulling all kinds of tricks out of your hat to manipulate consumers to buy your stuff, your what. Price discounts, coupons, promotional offers, targeted direct mail, guilt-inducing or status-enhancing advertising, etc. If you’re a why company, you explain your purpose first. This inspires people who are motivated by that purpose and they need little in the way of tricks to buy your what because they’ve bought into your big why.
As one example, Sinek compares two well-known companies, Dell and Apple. Dell starts with the what it manufactures and sells, computers and related gear, and only then goes on to describe how (build your own and order via the internet or phone) and never really gets to why. They are big-time price discounters and operate on the thinnest of margins.
Apple, on the other hand, is all about why–since 1977 they’ve been out to “think different” and change the world with personal, elegant and intuitive technology. Their how is to develop stuff that’s smart enough to operate the way we humans like to operate, rather than force us to operate the way other stupid machines operate. Apple’s what, their stuff, ranges across all sorts of product categories and has truly changed the way we listen to music, use computers, and communicate with each other. The company enjoys record sales and fat margins that are strategically managed over time with careful price reductions as initial avid demand becomes satisfied.
This premise is summed up in what Sinek calls The Golden Circle, with why in the center of three concentric circles, surrounded by how next and then what at the perimeter. The author points out that this Golden Circle applies to individuals as well as organizations.
Not only do I buy into Apple’s why, I buy into Simon’s, too…up to a point. Not to complicate things, but I want to know just exactly who thinks up the why?
Every why comes from a who. The why can only be compelling if there is clarity about the who. The who must know who the who is at the CORE. (Whew!) A compelling purpose, one strong enough for others to rally to, springs from a coherent sense of the self, including CORE beliefs about the universe, this planet, the meaning of life in general and human life in particular, and the way the self choses to live among other life forms, especially among those intimate relationships that help define who we are. That’s what we at BUILT TO LEAD call IDENTITY.
Tell me if it’s possible to have anyone buy into a why (purpose) articulated by someone who doesn’t know who they are (identity)? Further, what if the who and the why are not aligned? I don’t know about you, but I’d have trouble following such a purpose. In fact, I’ve HAD trouble doing so. At least one of the companies I have worked for was missing the key link between what they said their purpose was, their why, and their deep sense of themselves, their who. They said they were committed to a purpose that was not consistent with their sense of themselves. Partially as a result, they could only muddle through with a compliant but not committed culture.
So my advice is to “Start With Who” and then do the real, hard, work to align your why, how, and what in a strong CORE. You will learn the answers to these four CORE questions:
1. Who am I?
2. Why am I here and where am I going?
3. How will I get there?
4. What are my priorities in this life?
This is BUILT TO LEAD.
This is very cool.
When shall we begin?
BUILT TO LEAD 