Start with Why by Simon Sinek - Review
The Ted Talk
In continuation of our reviews of business books, we now have a book that I have been looking forward to reading. Start with Why (ISBN: 978-0-241-95822-3) is a book written by Simon Sinek, someone who I have a long memory of having seen, is very famous Ted Talk from 2010 or so. Back before Ted Talks blew up and become something that most people’s gardeners had on their resumes. This specific one I saw on YouTube a long time ago. This book is the expansion of this talk and the talk itself does cover the main points. In lieu of reading this book I suggest watching the video. Most of the core message is there, and it’s one that I highly recommend. I do want to also speak to the age of the book, first published in 2009 many of the references and companies he uses are dated. Aside from Apple, which has been consistent in its development all these years most of the other companies spoken of have had changes in management, focus or similar meaning it’s important to read this book in its context of the time. The stories are relevant at their time.
The Golden Circle
The book is presented in a simple direct telling style that seeks to convey a series of thoughts and theory that Simon has developed over his years working as an entrepreneur and using his own marketing experience. He seeks to convey why some organizations work and how they work vs other organizations. The core of this comparison is using a series of examples, companies like Apple and southwest airlines as well as people like MLK and JFK who all embody the key element of his ideas. Which is the golden circle.
While I’ll let the book, and the videos explain all the details of the golden circle I will try to give the gist here briefly because I am a big fan of this very simple to show diagram that brings a ton of complexity into a simple package.
It all leans on the words Why, How and What, you, your organization, your movement are doing.
Why, How and What
Why is the core of it hence being on the inner sphere of the diagram. This is the reason you get up; it should be the reason you do a thing, it’s what justifies the actions you’re taking. It’s the root of all things, and all things should reflect on the Why. Why are values and belief and must permeate the How.
How is the mechanics of doing the Why. How is how your values manifest and enforces the Why. The How should always refer to the Why and take that into considerations when building and actioning.
What is the output, the end manifestation of the Why and should to the best of its ability present and reflect the Why.
Most companies work from the outside in, they speak of what their devices or service can do, give details on specifications or conditions, tell you it’s better than the competition. These are all What attributes that may or may not be real, but they rarely speak to us. The allow for comparison but not a reason to buy a thing. There is no story.
To give this in an example used briefly in the book is the Railroads of the early 20th century. These companies had before cars highways and planes the near monopoly on transportation of goods and people, and they figured there Why was being railroads. They didn’t see themselves as transportation, they didn’t see the changes that came on the horizons, as they often focused on the HOW, railroads themselves, and the WHAT – trains and schedules. They failed to notice that a comprehensive Why statement such as – To get everything where it needs to be quickly, would have given them a better chance to notice the risk that planes trucks and highways presented to their overall business. Their laziness bred from the wrong focus, ends up removing key opportunities away from them. We see this all the time, Taxi’s missed Uber, Music publishing missed iTunes and the internet.
In the book we also see how having a strong Why focus also can improve client loyalty and improve messaging. It’s the authors opinion that you will have a stronger and better customer base and product if you can Start with Why.
Exercise in Why
As I’ve been going through the book I’ve been looking to understand my own company’s why. I started Department 45 Consulting in 2024, as I needed a creative outlet from my very boring middle management US corporate job. I’ve wanted to start something that gave me more control to explore creative questions and tasks then my daily job did and with that I sought to find a niche for myself, taking my knowledge and experiences and finding a place to share that with people who may have a need for it. Over many discussions and over years of looking fondly at our small businesses and creative friends. We realized that many small businesses, and specifically creative, artists and artisans’ businesses struggle with or lack support on key functions that can make or break small businesses. For many people in this small business space access to this knowledge through a consultant or similar is often not possible due to costs or awareness. That’s where then I created Department 45, as a consulting group focused on core business skills for small businesses specifically in the creative space.
With that background and while reading this book I kept coming back to what I feel is my why.
Creatives and Artists should be able to make a living on their art, and we want to enable them to do that.
Look for your Why!
I don’t want to bury the lead on this book I think it’s great and I think the message is one that can easily be translated to small organizations. That’s not to say finding your why is easy. It’s not, but I think as well that it’s a question worth asking yourself and one that you should consider strongly. I recommend the book and the video. The book takes more time to elaborate but the message is well explained in the video, and I believe it is well worth a watch. There are additional resources on this topic online just a search away. Look for your Why and see if it doesn’t help you more confident in your product, if it doesn’t help you ensure that your message and products reflect your why. And then communicate that why as you build your business.
And if you want help to find your why and discuss this topic then please take that conversation down below in the comments, on our Instagram or email us to set up a one to one session.
