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Tag: Start With Why

  • Good Successors keep the WHY alive

    Visionary founders of iconic companies e.g. Apple , SouthWest , CostCo who espoused the WHY – the reason the company existed have always been meticulous doing succession planning.

    This is because when the visionary founder is no longer around and the WHY goes fuzzy it can even lead to the demise of the company.

    Hence the need of successors who buy into the vision , keep the JUST CAUSE alive by investing in the long run , prioritizing will over resources rather than trying to hit short term goals.

    This is the reason successors of iconic companies believe in investing in the long run to keep the WHY alive.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

  • What makes SouthWest Airlines so good at Succession Planning?

    One of the main reasons SouthWest Airlines over the years has been so good at SUCCESSION planning is because its JUST CAUSE is so much deeply ingrained in its CULTURE and hence the CEO’s who have taken over from the co-founder Herb Kelleher have embodied the CAUSE.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why.

  • What do John Sculley , Kevin Rollins & Jim Donald have in common?

    Apple is known for the vision of Steve Jobs and his co-founder Steve Wozniak.

    Dell Inc is known for the visionary founder Michael Dell.

    Lastly Starbucks the iconic coffee chain is known for the vision espoused by Howard Schultz.

    John Sculley succeeded Steve Jobs at Apple , toppled him and eventually took Apple  , a once market leader , to near bankruptcy.

    Kevin Rollins succeeded Michael Dell and failed miserably to carry on the legacy.

    Same holds good for Jim Donald who succeeded Howard Schultz.

    What this thus teaches us is that even though a WHY is espoused by a visionary , succession planning is of paramount importance since when these visionaries are not around the WHY can go fuzzy especially if leaders who lead with WHAT are given charge.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

  • Winning “minds” or “hearts” – Which is more difficult?

    The HEART represents the LIMBIC or EMOTIONAL brain which does not have power to interpret language.It can only understand signals.

    MIND represents the RATIONAL BRAIN the part that understands reason and logic for e.g – comparison of features in a product and associated benefits.

    This is why WINNING HEARTS is much more difficult , needs more WORK and is possible when the message communication STARTS WITH WHY.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

  • What happens when WHY goes fuzzy?

    Knowing your WHY as an individual or an organization is the ONLY way to maintain lasting success and have a greater blend of innovation and flexibility.

    When a WHY goes FUZZY , it becomes very difficult to maintain growth , innovation and inspiration to drive the original success.In such cases MANIPULATION and NOT INSPIRATION dominates wherein the leadership is hell bent on short term targets by focusing on WHAT’s rather than the WHY.

    Time is witness to the fact that whenever WHY has gone fuzzy in iconic organization an inspirational leaders has bailed the organization out of crisis focusing on WHY.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

  • Inspiring customers to buy a product

    Manipulating buying behavior from a customer can lead to short term gains , create a desire but can never create LOYAL customers.

    Inspiring leaders who start with WHY and communicate clearly the meaning of the offering are able to command loyalty from their customers.

    It is the CAUSE represented by the company , brand , product or person that commands LOYALTY.

    If a customer thus feels INSPIRED to buy a product rather than being MANIPULATED , they will be able to verbalize the reasons why they think what they bought is better.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

  • Why corporate communication should start with WHY?

    When we start the communication with WHY , the message would appeal to the emotional limbic brain and hence provide the reason to BUY a product or service.

    The WHAT’s in the product or service would serve as the TANGIBLE proof of that belief.These would then appeal to the rational brain and become the reasons we are DRAWN to a product , company or an idea over another.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

  • Why co-founders of an organization need to have complementary skills?

    It is not sufficient for a FOUNDER to espouse a WHY and communicate it clearly to the entire organization.

    A founder who espouses a WHY needs an equally capable peer who knows HOW to run the company and advance the WHY or the JUST CAUSE around which the organization revolves.

    Thus a combination of a visionary who knows WHY and the co-founder who has the wherewithal or knows HOW to run the organization is an essential pre-requisite to build an iconic organization.

    Think of Bill Gates(WHY) and Paul Allen at Microsoft , Steve Jobs(WHY) and Steve Wozniak(HOW) at Apple , Rollin King(WHY) and Herb Kelleher(HOW) at SouthWest Airlines and the dots will connect.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

  • What is meant by “Celery Test”?

    Simon Sinek mentions about this in his book Start With Why.

    When the WHY is communicated clearly by the leader in an organizations it appropriately acts as a FILTER for all decision making even for folks at the lower level based on the clearly stated WHY.

    Thus any decision making , hiring , strategies , partnerships , tactics should all be made to pass through the Celery Test and the test would pass only if the WHY stated by the founder percolates right down to the lowest level in the organization to create the desired impact.

  • United had TED ,Delta launched SONG but both failed , WHY?

    In order to compete with the iconic brand SouthWest Airlines in the economy airline segment , United launced TED while Delta Airlines launched SONG.

    Both these brands failed.It is not because of WHAT they did it is because noone was convinced WHY the brands existed in the first place.

    SouthWest on the other because of their very clear and crisp messaging and communication of their WHY was able to have loyal customers unlike Delta and United.

    Without a clear sense of WHY in their messaging the customers had to judge TED and SONG solely on price or convenience.

    This the major reason both the brands failed.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why