Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire - Book Review

“There are leaders and there are those who lead” – the book starts off with these powerful words and you soon realize why several titans across myriad fields count ‘Start with Why’ among the best books they have read.

‘Start with Why’ revolves around the Golden Circle that Simon Sinek keeps referring to throughout the pages of the book to drive home the point that it is ‘Why’ and not ‘How’ or ‘What’ companies or leaders do, that inspires people to follow them or buy from them. “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it”, he repeats often.

Sinek rightly points out that companies and leaders very often lose sight of their reason - the ‘why’ that they started with in the first place, and that’s when things beginto fall apart. He admires Steve Jobs for the clarity of purpose he infused in Apple, which was ‘to always challenge the status quo' and he never let it become fuzzy.

Sinek also goes on to enumerate the importance of the other two aspects of the golden circle, namely ‘how’ and ‘what’, but states that they need to be in line with the ‘why’. Leaders usually describe their organisations with respect to what they do and how they do it, including how they do it differently from others. But these whats and hows hold no significance in the absence of a clear purpose, which emerges from why. And no, being profitable is not a why, but only an outcome of clear why, how, and what, he clarifies. I particularly liked the concept of the celery test that he refers to –a simple test that everyone should run while making decisions.

While the book is a great guide for leaders and companies and to say the least, is a ‘must read’ for them, I realized that the takeaways are not limited to just them. It is one of those books I wish I had read ten years back, but it is never too late to learn or to unlearn. It is almost a gospel one should live by. It transcends companies and leaders and can seamlessly be applied to anyone’s life.

The one area where the book falls short, or so I felt is it relies too heavily on a select few examples of organizations and leaders. While the oft-repeated reference to the few popular companies and leaders helps the audience connect with them better, the lack of enough examples may leave you wondering if all other successful leaders and companies necessarily rely on the golden circle as the golden rule.

But all in all, it is a book that should be on everyone’s ‘must read’ bucket list. One simple question can give a whole new dimension to your life and transform the way you make decisions. So please ask yourself WHY you have not read it yet! :)