Transcript excerpt of a Simon Sinek talk describing his discovery of the importance of knowing and communicating an organization or individual's "why" (purpose, cause, belief). Sinek contrasts what/how/why, defines a "why" as having a contribution and an impact, and gives his personal why: to inspire people to do the things that inspire them so together we can change the world for the better.
Chapters
A bunch of years ago, I sort of lost my passion for my own work. And I discovered this naturally occurring pattern based on how the human brain makes decisions that every single one of us knows what we do. We know the jobs we do, we know the products we sell, the services we offer as companies. Some can articulate how we do those things. These are the things that you may say are your differentiating value propositions, the things that make you different or stand out from the crowd. But very, very few people and very, very few organizations can clearly articulate why they do what they do. And by why, I mean to make money. That's a result. By why I mean what's your purpose? What's your cause? What's your belief? Why does your company exist on a level beyond your product? Why should we get out of bed every morning? Why should anybody care? And what I learned is that the most inspiring, the most influential, the most innovative companies and organizations and individuals all think, act and communicate the exact same way. Everybody from Martin Luther King to Apple Computers, they start with why. And so when I first realized this, it not only profoundly changed my own view of my life and my organization, but I talked about it. And I guess it resonated with other people too. For me, a good why has two pieces. There's a contribution and an impact to do something so that something happens. So like my why, for example, is to inspire people to do the things that inspire them. So together, each of us can change our world for the better. So when I hear to make the world more agreeable, what I hear is the so that I hear the outcome that the world is more agreeable. And the question that it raises for me is, what's your contribution? What's the specific thing that you're doing to help make the world more agreeable?
