Last updated on July 12th, 2023 at 11:34 pm
How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Rating
5/5
Date Started
11/24/2022
Date Completed
11/29/2022
Five Powerful Quotes from the Book
Quote 1
“Great leaders, in contrast, are able to inspire people to act. Those who are able to inspire give people a sense of purpose or belonging that has little to do with any external incentive or benefit to be gained. Those who truly lead are able to create a following of people who act not because they were swayed, but because they were inspired. For those who are inspired, the motivation to act is deeply personal. They are less likely to be swayed by incentives. Those who are inspired are willing to pay a premium or endure inconvenience, even personal suffering. Those who are able to inspire will create a following of people—supporters, voters, customers, workers—who act for the good of the whole not because they have to, but because they want to.”
Pithy Summary
Quote 2
“The goal of business should not be to do business with everyone who needs what you have. The goal is to focus on people who believe what you believe. When we are selective about doing business only with those who believe in our why, trust emerges.”
Pithy Summary
Quote 3
“Energy motivates but charisma inspires. Energy is easy to see, easy to measure, and easy to copy. Charisma is hard to define, near impossible to measure, and too elusive to copy. All great leaders have charisma because all great leaders have clarity of WHY – the undying belief in their own purpose or cause that’s bigger than themselves.”
Pithy Summary
Quote 4
“With a WHY clearly stated in an organization, anyone within the organization can make a decision as clearly and as accurately as the founder. A WHY provides the clear filter for decision-making.”
Pithy Summary
Quote 5
“When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you…
“Now think about how we do business. We’re always competing against someone else. We’re always trying to be better than someone else. Better quality. More features. Better service. We’re always comparing ourselves to others. And no one wants to help us. What if we showed up to work every day simply to be better than ourselves? What if the goal was to do better work this week than we did the week before? To make this month better than last month? For no other reason than because we want to leave the organization in a better state than we found it?
“All organizations start with WHY, but only the great ones keep their WHY clear year after year. Those who forget WHY they were founded show up to the race every day to outdo someone else instead of to outdo themselves. The pursuit, for those who lose sight of WHY they are running the race, is for the medal or to beat someone else.”
Pithy Summary
About the Book
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action – Audiobook | Ebook | Hardcover – “Start with Why asks (and answers) the questions: Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?
“People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers had little in common, but they all started with why. They realized that people won’t truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the why behind it.
“Start with Why shows that the leaders who have had the greatest influence in the world all think, act, and communicate the same way – and it’s the opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with why.”
About the Author
Simon Sinek – “Simon is a spark that ignites passion and ideas. He envisions a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single morning inspired, feel safe wherever they are, and end the day fulfilled by the work they do. As an unshakeable optimist, he believes in our ability to build this world together.
“Simon may be best known for his TED Talk on the concept of WHY, which has been viewed over 60 million times, and his video on millennials in the workplace—which reached 80 million views in its first week and has gone on to be seen hundreds of millions of times.
“He continues to share inspiration through his bestselling books, including global bestseller Start with WHY and New York Times bestsellers Leaders Eat Last and The Infinite Game, as well as his podcast, A Bit of Optimism.”
Additional Resources
- Start with why — how great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek | TEDxPugetSound
- A Bit of Optimism Podcast
Tags
Nonfiction | Business