Start with Why by Simon Sinek

Start with Why is built around one powerful observation: the most inspiring leaders and organizations in the world — Apple, Martin Luther King Jr., the Wright Brothers — all think, act, and communicate in exactly the same way, and it is the opposite of everyone else. Sinek calls this pattern the Golden Circle, consisting of three concentric rings: Why, How, and What.

Most organizations can easily describe what they do and how they do it, but very few can clearly articulate why — why the organization exists, what its cause or belief is, and why anyone should care. Sinek argues that this simple shift from communicating from the outside in (what, how, why) to communicating from the inside out (why, how, what) is the key to inspiring rather than merely motivating people.

Sinek illustrates his theory through compelling examples including Apple’s marketing success, the Wright Brothers’ achievement of flight before better-funded competitors, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s ability to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people for the civil rights movement. He shows that people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it, and that this principle applies to businesses, nonprofits, political movements, and individual careers.

The book introduces the concept of the Law of Diffusion of Innovation, explaining how organizations can cross the chasm from early adopters to the mass market by staying true to their why. Start with Why has become required reading in business schools and boardrooms around the world as a foundational text on leadership and communication.