The Tartt Take

Simon Sinek’s Start With Why is one of the best books I’ve read this year. Sinek does a great job discussing leadership, communication, efficiency, and other related subjects. He covers a lot of ground and does so in a memorable, enjoyable way. 

Sinek’s central point involves the difference between how most people communicate and how effective leaders communicate. In the process, he repeatedly references the “Golden Circle”, which looks like this: 

According to Sinek, most people start communicating from the outside of the Golden Circle and gradually move toward its center; they start with what they do, then move on to how they do it, and finish with why they do it, if they even mention the why at all. On the other hand, an effective leader begins by explaining why they do something, proceeds to the how, and finally concludes with the what. To illustrate the difference, he compares how most companies market themselves to how Apple markets itself; he says that this is why Apple garners such loyalty from it customers and why it has had such success in a variety of products and services while other companies have been much more limited in what they can do. Starting with why isn’t essential for an individual or an organization to be successful, but Sinek states that doing so greatly increases the chances of long-term success. 

As for the reason that starting with why is so effective, Sinek turns to biology. He says that our decisions come from the subconscious areas of our brains that also deal with emotion but don’t handle language; language is reserved for the higher-reasoning areas, which also serve to rationalize decisions made by the subconscious. Because of this, starting with why and then proceeding outward to what appeals directly to the areas of our brains that make decisions. In contrast, starting with what completely bypasses the decision-making areas, resulting in a much smaller chance of inspiring or persuading anyone. 

Start With Why also looks at companies that lost sight of their why and ended up focusing more on their what. He talks about how Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, loved people and made serving and taking care of them the why of his company. One of the ways he did that was by keeping prices low. After his death, however, the why shifted from taking care of people to simply having low prices. If this meant cutting costs elsewhere in ways that ended up making some people worse off, that was consistent with the company’s new why. This is why Walmart’s reputation has declined drastically since Walton’s death, although it is far from the only company to fall from grace after losing sight of its why.

When I was about halfway through Start With Why, I started realizing how significant Sinek’s ideas were and how much they intertwine with many of the lessons I’ve learned this year. For an example involving communication, I think conversations would go much more smoothly, especially ones about disagreements, if more people started with why they hold their positions. If two people start off talking about what changes they want to see in the world and those changes are different, there may be (and often is) hostility. However, if they start off talking about their idea of a better world, they may disagree on how to get there but at least they’ll see eye-to-eye on why they’re motivated to make a positive difference. This is just one way that the lessons in Start With Why could make the world better. I’m glad I read this book and I’m excited that it’s given me a better idea of how to communicate effectively. I intend to use what I’ve learned from it in my plans to leave the world better than I found it and I think it’s going to prove incredibly useful in that regard. If any of this sounds interesting to you, check out the book and see why it’s become a modern classic. You’ll be glad you did.