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Tag: Why vs What

  • What is the BIGGEST LESSON the WRIGHT BROTHERS taught the ENTIRE WORLD?

    Adopted from the following great insight shared by Simon Sinek from his book Start With Why

    Wright Brothers as we all know invented the first airplane.

    But if we look book at history we can find that Samuel Langley was more equipped than the Wright Brothers , yet could not achieve what the Wright Brothers did.

    Langley had a passion for aeronautics and knew WHAT he needed to do.He did not have a CAUSE to champion and more than anything else fame , earning money was his driving motivation.There was no clear sense of WHY.

    Contrast this with the Wright Brothers , they clearly knew WHY it was important to build the plane.Not a single person working with the Wright Brothers had college education.

    They imagined the benefits to everyone else if they were successful , they had the clear sense of WHY.Rest as they say is history.

  • Achievement comes from WHAT , Success comes from WHY

    The following great motivational quote of Simon Sinek , clearly differentiates between Achievement and Success..

     “Achievement happens when we pursue and attain what we want. Success comes when we are in clear pursuit of Why we want it.”

  • 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

  • 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 just copying a business model will never work?

    SouthWest Airlines copied their model from Pacific SouthWest Airlines , even copied their name but eventually carved a niche out for themselves.

    This is because Herb Kelleher was successfully able to communicate the WHY which translated into all the employee touchpoints with the customers.The consistency of messaging is the reason SouthWest has had customer loyalty over the years.

    Seeing the rising popularity of SouthWest’s low cost model , prompted United to Start TED and Delta to start SONG as the low cost variants.

    Since both United and Delta copied the WHAT from SouthWest and did not focus on the WHY hence these models never took off.

    Mentioned below links showcase the respective failures of United and Delta with their low cost segments.

    https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/united-shut-down-ted-airlines-95995/

    Source Adweek

    https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/united-shut-down-ted-airlines-95995/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/29/business/delta-to-close-song-its-lowfare-airline.html

    Source NY Times

    Thus just copying the WHAT is not sufficient for long term sustenance.When the WHY is clear and communicated that way is when customers truly become loyal customers.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why