Start with Why

Key Concepts

Starting with WHY is how great leaders inspire

“Great leaders, in contrast, are able to inspire people to act. Those who are able to inspire give people a sense of purpose or belonging that has little to do with any external incentive or benefit to be gained.” (p. 6)

Loyalty from customers comes when they really identify with the WHY

“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. Loyal customers often don’t even bother to research the competition or entertain other options.” (p. 28) 

The Golden Circle in a company

WHAT: “Everyone is easily able to describe the products or services a company sells or the job function they have within that system. WHATs are easy to identify.” (p. 39)

HOW: “Whether you call them a ‘differentiating value proposition,’ ‘proprietary process’ or ‘unique selling proposition,” HOWs are often given to explain how something is different or better.” (p. 39)

WHY: “By WHY I mean what is your purpose, cause or belief? WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care?” (p. 39)

The WHY is an important part of customers’ decision-making process; it taps into their limbic brain, which is the oldest and most powerful driver of action

“It’s worth repeating: people don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it”. (p. 41)

“When communicating from the inside out, however, the WHY is offered as the reason to buy and the WHATs serve as the tangible proof of that belief. (p. 42)

“But when we communicate from the inside out, we’re talking directly to the part of the brain that controls decision-making, and our language part of the brain allows us to rationalize those decisions.” (p. 56)

Communication is more effective when it focuses on WHY because it taps into the motivations of early adopters who then become evangelists

“There is an irony to mass-market success, as it turns out. It’s near impossible to achieve if you point your marketing and resources to the middle of the bell, if you attempt to woo those who represent the middle of the curve without first appealing to the early adopters.” (p. 120)

“For a message to have real impact, to affect behavior and seed loyalty, it needs more than publicity. It needs to publicize some higher purpose, cause or belief to which those with similar values and beliefs can relate.” (p. 146)

Being clear on WHY internally supports making clear decisions and being clear to customers what you’re about

“Filtering your decisions through your WHY, you spend less time at the supermarket and you spend less money, so there’s an efficiency advantage also. You’re guaranteed to get value out of all the products you bought. And, most importantly, when you’re standing in line with your products in your arms, everybody can see what you believe. With only celery and rice milk it’s obvious to people walking by what you believe. ‘I can see that you believe in looking after your health,’ they may say to you. ‘I feel the same way. I have a question for you.’” (p. 167)

As companies grow, they can lose the WHY, partly because it’s easier to measure the WHAT

“Whereas gut was the filter for early decisions, rational cases and empirical data often serve as the sole basis for later decisions. For all organizations that go through the split, they are no longer inspired by a cause greater than themselves.” (p. 185)

“Most organizations today use very clear metrics to track the progress and growth of WHAT they do—usually it’s money. Unfortunately, we have very poor measurements to ensure that a WHY stays clear.” (p. 191)

Quotables

“Any company faced with the challenge of how to differentiate themselves in their market is basically a commodity, regardless of WHAT they do or HOW they do it.” (p. 47)

“If a customer feels inspired to buy a product, rather than manipulated, they will be able to verbalize the reasons why they think what they bought is better.” (p. 49)

“But when a company clearly communicates their WHY, what they believe, and we believe what they believe, then we will sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to include those products or brands in our lives. This is not because they are better, but because they become markers or symbols of the values and beliefs we hold dear.” (p. 54)

“What authenticity means is that your Golden Circle is in balance. It means that everything you say and everything you do you actually believe.” (p. 68)

“Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them.” (p. 94)

“Average companies give their people something to work on. In contrast, the most innovative organizations give their people something to work toward.” (p. 99)

“The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen.” (p. 99)

“Companies with a clear sense of WHY tend to ignore their competition, whereas those with a fuzzy sense of WHY are obsessed with what others are doing.” (p. 100)