Start with Why


Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action is a book by Simon Sinek.

Overview

The book starts with a comparison of the two main ways to influence human behaviour: manipulation and inspiration. Sinek argues that inspiration is the more powerful and sustainable of the two.

The golden circle

Sinek says people are inspired by a sense of purpose, and that this should come first when communicating, before "How" and "What". Sinek calls this triad the golden circle, a diagram of a bullseye with "Why" in the innermost circle, surrounded by a ring labeled "How", enclosed in a ring labeled "What". He goes on to speculate about the biological factors behind this structure, such as the limbic system.

Reception

Lindsay McGregor and Neel Doshi, co-authors of the book Primed to Perform: How to Build the Highest Performing Cultures Through the Science of Total Motivation, came to a similar conclusion: "Why we work determines how well we work."
Ken Krogue, in a blog post for Forbes, argued that it is far more important, especially for salespeople, to find the right person before "starting with Why":

Sales

According to NPD BookScan's mid-June 2016 to mid-June 2017 ranking of printed book sales, Start with Why ranked as the "bestselling leadership book" of that period, selling 171,000 paperback copies.