START WITH WHY
by Simon Sinek
A book-length elaboration on Sinek’s massively popular TED talk about the importance of knowing why you do what you do and placing it at the heart of your activity and communication.
In my experience it sometimes gets confused with ‘why you should buy what I’m offering’. While I fully subscribe to the advertising industry’s mantra of benefits, not features, it is not the same thing.
I’ve worked with many companies and individuals to help them identify their why. Getting clarity on this can be difficult but it brings enormous rewards.
For a brilliant exploration of this in a hyper-commercial setting, listen to Hubert Joly on the HBR ideacast describing how he went about it when he took over as CEO of Best Buy electronics