Simon Sinek Start With Why Summary

Louis Evangelista
12/4/17
Dr. Dan
Marketing Final Assignment
Start With Why I found “Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action,” by Simon Sinek, to be an extremely informative and educational book. According to Sinek, stand out brands that are visionaries and can inspire a consumer/employee base place the Why ahead of the How and What. To clarify, the Why in Sineks eyes refers to the reason for a company/brand existence. The reason is more of a purpose or reason for why you do what you do, aside from making money. This is the inspiration factor within a company/brand that draws people in. A company/brand that puts an uneven amount of focus into the What and How have probably never had a solid Why or their Why has been

It is human nature to feel a need to belong, there is no way around it. A strong Why gives people a reason to feel a connection with a brand because its a value that they can relate to. Sinek gave a great example in his book that if you go abroad and meet someone that is from your home country you will instantly connect with them and feel like you belong. This need to belong can make people act in irrational ways and even spend money to get that feeling. For example, TOMS shoe company donates shoes to impoverished kids all over the world in order to improve health and safety. TOMS Why is a strong and meaningful message that everybody can agree with, this is why people will go out of there way to buy a pair of TOMS rather than another brand. TOMS may not be any better or more affordable than other brands, but it is the Why that gives them the upper hand. A strong why can have a much stronger influence than most people would think and that is why it is so important to define your Why as a

These companies never developed a clear Why or they lost sight of their Why. A company that fell victim of this is Wal-Mart, who lost sight of their Why when the founders family members came to power. Wad-Mart was once an inspiring company that believed in treating your employees, consumers, and community the way you would like to be treated. Once the founder left his position his family members lost sight of the Why that had created a loyal and trusting consumer, employee, and community base. Another company that failed in painting its Why is AOL. AOL’s Why was to allow America to be online. Microsoft, according to Sinek, is on its way to losing sight of its