Book review: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

Why do you do what you do?

Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and moer profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?

People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started with why. It was their natural ability to start with why that enabled them to inspire those around them and to achieve remarkable things.

In studying the leaders who've had the greatest influence in the world, Simon Sinek discovered that they all think, act, and communicate in the exact same way -- and it's the complete opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be lead, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

Any organization can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate why. WHY is not money or profit-- those are always results. WHY does your organization exist? WHY does it do the things it does? WHY do customers really buy from one company or another? WHY are people loyal to some leaders, but not others?

Starting with WHY works in big business and small business, in the nonprofit world and in politics. Those who start with WHY never manipulate, they inspire. And the people who follow them don't do so because they have to; they follow because they want to.

Drawing on a wide range of real-life stories, Sinek weaves together a clear vision of what it truly takes to lead and inspire. This book is for anyone who wants to inspire others or who wants to find someone to inspire them.

I read this book because initially, I thought that Find Your Why was THIS book, but it wasn’t. I wrote a review of Find Your Why here so if you want to go read it you can. I have wanted to read this book since everyone, and their mentor in the online business world has read this, and you know I can’t stand to be left out of anything SO I listened to this on audiobook cause you know I am on an audiobook kick at the moment. The whole being able to hear never gets old.

Well…. To be honest, I fell asleep multiple times while reading this. I wasn’t even that tired either I am not sure if I was just bored with hearing how Apple wasn’t really all that great but how they made it big because they stuck to their why. Full Disclosure I am a HUGE apple fangirl. I have everything Apple. I worship at the alter of Jobs. I adore that man and all he has done to save us from the tranny f Microsoft. So hearing how Apple is really just overpriced gadgets but they are really selling a lifestyle well that is TRUE I wouldn’t touch a Windows or an Android with a ten foot pole BUT I REALLY disliked how the author went on and on and on about how Apple was extremely more expensive but yet people would wait outside for hours to get the newest phone or whatever. I would never demand myself to talking about Microsoft at all, but all that just rubbed me the wrong way. HMMPH

I was complaining to a friend about this, and he was all like look past the Apple comments and at the heart of the message, and I was all like OKKKKKK, so I thought about it, and I have to agree that the CORE message was right. I mean you have to have an excellent way to put in the long hours that us bloggers pour into the blogs social media and all of that. You have to have a WHY you are doing this. If you don’t, then you will most likely give up because blogging is a long hard, lonely road to and at the top. I have my why which I will share in a post all of its own. It is because of my why that I am sitting here typing out this blog post on three hours of sleep. I firmly believe in why I am a ghostwriter and blogger and that why carries me through the difficult times.

Don’t get me wrong I LOVE what I do and I feel blessed to be able to do this full time but there are times when I rather be sleeping ( like now) but alas here I am typing and getting all my stuff to post on social media and all of that again most times I LOVE it but there are sometimes when I have “feelings” about the whole thing.

So yes the core message of start with why is a good one. It is what allows Apple to sell “overpriced” gadgets and still get people to buy. It is what has held the Company together and made them hugely profitable. The book seems to be one long rant against apple interspersed with stories about Walmart and Starbucks but the message that the author is trying to convey still holds true.