| CBI Interview | Simon Sinek
The best-selling author and business consultant will explain “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” at IHRSA’s 31st Annual International Convention
By Jon Feld
CBI: The title of your best-selling book, the basis for your IHRSA convention presentation, is Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. What’s the core concept it explores?
SIMON SINEK: About five years ago, I discovered an important pattern—it’s a naturally occurring pattern that occurs in biology. All of the great and inspiring leaders—everyone from Martin Luther King, Jr., to Steve Jobs, of Apple—think, act, and communicate in exactly the same way, and they do so differently than everyone else. All I did was capture and document that pattern.
CBI: And you’ve described and defined it as “The Golden Circle.”
SS: That’s right. The diagram I use to illustrate the concept consists of three concentric circles. The innermost one is labeled “Why,” the middle one, “How,” and the outer one, “What.” Everyone knows what they do nearly 100% of the time, and some recognize how they do it, but very few individuals or organizations clearly grasp why they do what they do. That understanding, the true basis for decision-making, resides in a part of the brain that exists outside of the realm of language, so, in a sense, it’s inexpressible.
CBI: A tangible example might help here.
SS: Sure. For instance, you can lay out all of the facts and figures that support a partic- ular business decision, but the person you’re trying to convince may respond: “Well, yes, that’s all true … but it just doesn’t feel right.” That’s what we describe as a “gut decision” or as leading with your heart or soul. The why has to do with an individual’s most basic interests, beliefs, and aspirations. If what they do, and how they do it, agrees with that inner sense of self, you’ve got a powerful combination. Inspired people and organizations all think, act, and communicate from the inside out.
CBI: Turning, for a moment, to your own consulting company, SinekPartners, which you describe as a “corporate refocusing” firm— what would you say is its why?
SS: The why of any company is the why of its founder. Personally, my why is to inspire people to do the things that inspire them. And, together, if we can do that, we can help change the world.
CBI: How do you differentiate between a personal and a corporate why? How closely related are the two?
SS: The individual why represents who the business owner is, as a human being. They have certain values and beliefs, and they act a certain way, and other people are either attracted to, or repelled by, them because of those values and beliefs.
ihrsa.org | >
Simon O. Sinek, 38, was born in Wimbledon, England, but, at a young age, moved to Johannesburg, South Africa, then to London, and then to Hong Kong, before finally settling in New Jersey. He earned a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology from Brandeis University, and attended City University in London, but left law school to enter advertising. Moving to New York City, Sinek worked with high-profile agencies Euro/RSCG and Ogilvy & Mather, handling such clients as MCI, Oppenheimer Funds, NASDAQ, and DISH Network. In 2002, he founded his own New York City–based consult- ing firm, SinekPartners. The company has worked with a variety of for-profit and non- profit clients, including ABC Sports, AOL, and others. In 2009, Sinek wrote Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, a ground-breaking book that explains why people are inspired by certain leaders, messages, and organizations. —|
FEBRUARY 2012 | Club Business Internat ional 33
Highlights » The ‘why’ of Start With Why » Buying, rooted in biology » It’s not the competition » The Wright brothers’ edge
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