People Buy Why You Do It

Simon Sinek’s Book, “Start With Why” showed me there are key things to having a successful business. It’s in the book where he shares a collection of stories from different types of businesses, from how they began, to what kept the business strong and many more stories that help you understand the key points of what Mr. Sinek is sharing. Reading his book I have found 3 key things that I have learned and taken note of.

The first, is inspiration is the Key to Influence People. Mr. Sinek talks about how inspiration works better than manipulation. Manipulation such as dropping the price, using fear, peer pressure and things like promotions are only a short term gain for a business or company, and actually cost more over a longer period of time. What matters most is making people understand what truly inspires the business and why they are selling the products. It’s when you do this, you build an image and the business begins to have a closer connection to their target audience. When we look at reality, money can be what most businesses see as their source of WHY, but the author makes a point that it in fact is not why, and is never the reason that leads a company to success.

Which brings me to the second key, Money or profits is not a ‘Why’. Often when organizations are on a downfall, they only look at making money and surviving. Profits are important but what Mr. Sinek points out in his book that ethics and values of a company, and having that as their anchor, are what sets them apart from the ones that do not have this at their forefront. The same applies to people as well. He shares stories of Apple, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Martin Luther King Jr, and a few others in the book as his examples. Quoting from Mr. Sinek's book, “Imagine if every organization started with Why. Decisions would be simpler. Loyalties would be greater. Trust would be a common currency.”

In line with that, we go to the last key, the power of trust. I put together from Mr. Sinek’s book, that when ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ come together, that builds trust in people and in organizations. People perform and work harder when they are part of a culture that fits their values and beliefs. This has shown me that putting in thoughts like this can not only benefit businesses, but your relationships with people as well. If we recall our “WHY”s we become better leaders who influence the people around them for the better.