Thank you for joining the prefects again in the Hugoversity library. For her latest review, prefect Natalie decided to pick up a legendary book in the world of PR from the wise Simon Sinek, Start with Why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action.
If you enjoy discovering new ways to not only develop your brand, but your personal brand and leadership skills, and want to inspire others, then this is the perfect read for you.
What’s it all about?
Simon really gets to the heart of organisations and leaders and explains in detail, with multiple examples, why some people and businesses are pioneering and successful. It all comes down to one thing – they know their ‘why’, their purpose.
“In business it doesn’t matter what you do, it matters why you do it,” and I couldn’t agree more with Simon. This page turner really got me thinking and showed me why we do what we do as businesses and as leaders really helps build success in teams.
The book explores several true stories from renowned, global companies and how they built on their successes because they knew their why. They understood why their customers are customers, why their team are their team, which enables the companies to attract more of the right people.
The author also dives into the science behind the importance of why for businesses and leaders, which is incredibly fascinating. Simon describes The Golden Circle theory (see ‘What did we learn?’ below for more information) behind how the brain works when it comes to building emotional attachments as customers. It’s in our DNA to belong, it’s a basic need and if you know why you do what you do, and you can articulate that to your target market, who share your values, they will have a desire to be part of your community, develop emotional attachments to your brand and become loyal customers.
What did we learn?
Whether you’re just starting out in business, or you’ve been running your empire for decades, this book certainly offers lessons for each and every one of us.
The key lesson for me was the theory of The Golden Circle.
There are two ways to influence humans, manipulation or inspiration and many businesses fall automatically into manipulation (transactions not loyalty), but they most effective and successful companies inspire their customers through their why.
The concept of The Golden Circle can help brand to build a loyal following, and leaders to inspire their team and it all starts from the inside out, with why.
Simon recommends starting with why as it is the why which is what separates companies who sell the same product or service – their purpose is what distinguishes them and helps to build an authentic brand. Having a why ensures you only do business with those who believe what you believe and share the same values.
When you’re starting to think about your why, your purpose, consider your beliefs, what feeling you want to create when someone uses your produce or service, or how you want to inspire your ideal customer.
You then need to look at how, how you do what you do. The hows are the values and principle that guide you to bring your cause to life.
And finally, what – what you do. This is the easiest one to answer, which is why many businesses start here and don’t explore their why, but once you’ve read Sinek’s book, you’ll understand just how essential the why is to develop a lucrative company.
What did we think?
Is Start with Why worth your time to read?
It most certainly is!
I’ve truly been inspired by Simon’s wise words and through the real life explains and theory, I can see how the world’s leading enterprises have got to where they are today.
I will undoubtedly be exploring my own why as a leader and implementing many of the top tips from Simon for myself, as well and the businesses and I work with.
If you would like to uncover your business’ why but not sure where to start, email us study@hugoversity.com or call 01325 486666.
