Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I read Start with Why and Find Your Why back to back over just a few days. Sinek’s famous Ted Talk (Presented in 2009, it has over 33 million views.) was so powerful to me that I had to see where he was with it now. The man has a theme. He calls it the Golden Circle: Why—How—What. Why is the reason. How is the means. What is the result. They all have to be in balance, driven by the why, and when they are, you will achieve authenticity and success. The theme hasn’t changed. In terms of the Start with Why concept itself, you’ll find little new here. Find Your Why is a how-to. Sinek and his team, Peter Docker and David Mead, and Docker and Mead in particular, provide a detailed guide to defining and sharing the why, how, and what within an actual organization, using the process they have refined through extensive use to help companies apply the original Sinek concept. (There is a refresher for those who haven’t read Start with Why or viewed the Ted talk.) As the authors state, “That’s the reason this book exists. If Start with Why makes the case for the WHY, Find Your Why provides the steps to show people how to actually do it.” And it does a good job at achieving that goal. To those who have been in the organizational world for a while, a lot of this will sound a lot like past initiatives to define mission, values, strategy, and tactics, or some combination of those concepts, however you define them. The Start With Why Team, as they refer to themselves, openly discusses that later in the book. The language is different. And so are the priorities and the focus. Values, as most organizations define them, and as the Why Team points out, are really just ideals. They aren’t actionable. And they’re right. It would be a disservice, therefore, to characterize the Why program as more of the same, either more of the 2009 TED talk or more of the overlapping programs many other consultants have promoted over the years. This is more than just another of the 32 flavors of Colgate toothpaste that Sinek refers to in Start with Why. And that’s because he always goes back to why. And that’s the magic. So, if you are responsible for developing engagement, strategy, or similar programs for your company, I would consider this a must read. If that’s not what you need, there is still plenty of value to the book. Sinek and his team are clearly impassioned. The writing is very fluid. And when it comes to WHY, you can’t get too much of a good thing.