Start with Why

Just a few pages into this book, I was immediately brought back to my childhood. I had the type of parents who very much managed the family using a top-down approach. If I asked why I had to do something, often times, the answer I got was "Because I said so!" I was not too fond of that answer then, and I'm even less thrilled with that answer today, regardless of the context. A relatively large number of my past bosses answered me in this way; emphasis on past.

Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action, by Simon Sinek, shows you that "because I said so" is never an acceptable answer. While the industry places this book in the business genre, it could easily fit into the self-improvement section.

Admittedly, this book does focus on business and shows us how, for some companies, the "why" is simply "because." Worse still, some companies have no idea why they do what they do. But, conversely, great leaders, and by extension, great companies, start by defining why they exist. From there, they tell you how they operate and only then tell you what they produce.

Sinek uses numerous examples, and the point comes across very clearly. He references Master political speakers like Martin Luther King Jr and inspirational entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs.

Sinek gives us the "golden circle," a template to help us explain why we do what we do, how we do what we do, and finally what we do. He describes how our brains have evolved such that the part of the brain that controls language, reasoning, and motor skills does not control behaviour. As such, telling people what we do and how we do it has no real bearing on their behaviour. "People do not buy what we do; they buy why we do it." But, of course, the most interesting realization here is that many people do not know why they do what they do.

Sinek has researched this book well, and the examples are plentiful. Some may even say there are too many examples, but in fairness, this book is a quick read, so there is no actual harm in having that many examples.

Simon Sinek is an exceptional speaker, and the over 8 million views on his TEDx Talk attests to that. So if there is any negative to this book, it’s that the author is writing rather than speaking. I couldn't help thinking of the TEDx Talk as I read the book and wishing that the writing was as inspired. Honestly though, the writing is not bad, and if I had not seen the TEDx Talk, I probably wouldn't have anything negative to say.

While this book aims to "inspire you to inspire others," it is also quite helpful in finding your own inspirations. As I mentioned above, this book is much more than a simple business book. In terms of achieving life balance, many people never ponder why they want to do something. When times get tough, you are likely to stop doing something challenging if you do not know why you are doing it. As such, this book may even help you keep your new year's resolutions. To me, it is both a solid business and self-improvement book.

This is such an inspiring and encountering book. Simon has challenged me to always start with why for all my convictions. Very eye opening and definitely learnt alot from him!

Some of the concepts are good, but I found the writing very repetitive and shallow, not a lot of research or great examples of real companies problems and how the "why" helped fixing them. I fell asleep every time I tried to read this book and still didn't finish reading it. Just very disappointed.