Now it is time to really get into the meat of this book. In chapter 3 of Start With Why by Simon Sinek, we start to learn on why we need to focus on why. As a father, one of my measures of success is in the actions my children take as they grow older. In the image, you see Emily reading the Bible. We have never, and maybe we should, outright told her that reading the Bible was a good way for her to become a better woman of God. What we have done, however, is lead by ...

Until I read Start With Why by Simon Sinek, I never saw the manipulation tactics that companies have used on me over the past 20 plus years. This chapter both infuriated me and encouraged me at the same time. It infuriated me because for years I have willingly been a victim of the manipulation tactics of companies all over the world. Motivated, however, because I have a chance to grow a business without these tactics. What does manipulation look like? Sinek tackles five forms of manipulation that we see in company practices every day. He explains all five, Price, ...

This blog section is dedicated to what self-improvement books I am reading and my observations. Today, we start with Why. Start With Why by Simon Sinek guides us to asking the right question first. Sure, How and What are very important questions to succeed in business, but what would happen if we first asked Why? Part 1 is dedicated to first help us understand how the WHY applies to the real world and to illustrate the author’s point through real life examples. Chapter 1 of Part 1 does not start shyly. It immediately opens with the premise that we ...

Often times in projects or team management, we get drowned by the amount of money we think we must sink in, but getting to autopilot shouldn’t be. In this section of Start With Why by Simon Sinek, he tells us the story of the competition between the insane race to get man into the air. He tells the story of Samuel Langley versus the Wright Brothers. To put it simply, Langley had all the financial resources he needed to discover flight while the Wright Brothers barely had two nickels to rub together. As history unfolds, Langley falls short and ...

Sinek over the past few chapters discussed motivation, but this section about bricks takes the cake; at least in my opinion. Let me know what you think. Through my project management days at SEL, there was a common theme that we never had all the right answers or pieces to the puzzle at the beginning of the project. Often times, during the first meeting, we were assigning roles and didn’t even have a picture of what the end result would be that lead us to success. As the projects advanced, we slowly built the solution one piece at a ...

Rewind back 2 to 3 years when I worked at SEL. I had the opportunity to start my department fresh and hire new talent. Oddly, I didn’t care about skills. At first glance, my boss thought my decision making was a little off kilter, but over time, my methods proved to be correct. Even though this is the first time I’ve read this book, the principle we learn today is one I knew from lessons learned in the Navy. The lesson is quite simple. People can be taught skills, but trying to change their personality to fit your team ...

What kind of car do you drive? Have you ever thought about why you bought that car? I mean the real Why. Maybe it is culture related. Culture drives much of our normal daily behavior whether we believe it or not. Most of the time when we talk about culture, we think about other countries. The United States, for example, we have ingrained in our culture the idea of “The American Dream.” This idea drives much of our entrepreneur behavior. Sinek shows compares that to the French culture. The French practice a philosophy of joie de vivre (The joy ...

With my experience in The U.S. Navy and the many managerial jobs I’ve held over the past has given me plenty of chances to deal with motivation. I can’t even count the many classes and books that tackled the subject of motivation within a group or corporation. I am curious if Sinek has a different take on the topic. He doesn’t disappoint by starting this chapter a little different than most of the books I’ve read. Typically, motivation books starts with the individual and understanding what they need in order to properly get their butts in gear. Sinek, however, ...

The title of this book is Start With Why, not finding your why, so it is only natural that Sinek has to put a closing on finding your why and move on. But before we take the next step to knowing what we are supposed to do with our Why, let’s discuss how we even know we found our Why. I know you have felt it before. Whether it is with the potential new mate you see across the room, or even as simple as what to eat for your next meal. We all experience this feeling deep down ...

Sinek hit the nail on the head with this next section. Without a doubt it is my favorite section as it likens every day business practices to dating. If you have read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, then this chapter will sound very familiar to you. The basic concept, surprisingly enough, is in business, much like dating, we can either talk about our What, or our Why. Many people in the dating scene, start the conversation with how much money they make, what they do for a living, and how they can provide for ...