Lessons from Start with Why by Simon Sinek

Great leaders and companies focus most on their WHY - why they do what they do

i.e. in the case of Apple, for instance - they develop lifestyle products that are cutting edge and represent a break from the status quo. You can see this in the first commercial they ever made as easily as you can in their marketing today - People buy into the ideal, not just the products.

then they determine WHAT they do 

Apple started out as a computer company. Now it's removed "computers" from its name and it makes everything from computers to telephones.

then they determine HOW they do it.

Apple products and its stores are completely different than anything else you will see. Apple looks different, acts different, and feels different. It is all about reiterating their mission - to do it better, and different - than the status quo.

Some other notes…

Page 28

There is a big difference between repeat business and loyalty. Repeat business is when people do business with you multiple times. Loyalty is when people are willing to turn down a better product or a better price to continue doing business with you.

Repeat business comes from manipulations – of price… of instigating fear (i.e. “don’t miss this great price!”). Loyalty comes from buying into your story…  your WHY.

Page 83

“Happy employees ensure happy customers... happy customers ensure happy stockholders – in that order.” – Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines

Page 104

No matter how experienced, no matter how proficient, a trapeze artist will not attempt a new death-defying leap without first trying it with a net below him. And depending on how death-defying the trick is, he may insist on always having a net when performing the trick. Besides the obvious advantage of catching you if you fall, the net also provides a psychological benefit. Knowing it is there gives the trapeze artist confidence to try something he’s never done before, or to do it again and again… the more he trusts…the more he will take personal risks to make his act better. 

If he thrives, the rest of the circus performers will follow, and the show will get better.

Better show = more customers = more $$$. Enough said.

Page 106

It is a prerequisite, then, for someone to trust the culture in which they work to share the values and beliefs of that culture. Without it, the (person) is… likely to work only for self-gain without consideration of the greater good. But if those inside the organization are a good fit, the opportunity to “go the extra mile,” to explore, to invent, to innovate, to advance and, more importantly, to do so again and again and again, increases dramatically. Only with mutual trust can an organization become great.

Page 122

The… act of incentivizing an influencer (someone who tends to be at the forefront of adapting to new ideas, and to whom people look to prepare for what’s coming) is manipulative. It renders the influencer completely inauthentic to his or her group. It won’t take long for the group to find out that a recommendation wasn’t made with the group’s interest in mind, but rather because of one person’s self-interest. Trust erodes and value of the influencer is rendered useless.

Page 134

Energy motivates but charisma inspires. Energy is easy to see, easy to measure, and easy to copy. Charisma is hard to define, near impossible to measure, and too elusive to copy. All great leaders have charisma because all great leaders have clarity of WHY; an undying belief in a purpose or cause bigger than themselves.

Page 223

When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help you. When you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you.

Like these tidbits? Then read Start with Why by Simon Sinek