Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

A retrospective on how we position and sell our thoughts, our passions – both in personal & in business life. Focused on the latter, “Start with Why” strips apart well-known businesses in an attempt to exemplify what works and why in regards to gaining both employee and customer loyalty. Understanding the reasons on why some initiatives are successful and others are not, from tangible as well as intangible, emotional points of view are well explained in Sinek’s book. Although repetitive at times, the overall concept with actionable takeaways makes this a recommended read.

I saw Simon's presentation on TED, and I think that the idea of Starting with Why is really good and important, but the book is too long and sometimes repetitive. The TED talk has it all.

Simon Sinek in his easy to listen to and thought provoking book explains how business' who describe or identify themselves by their process' or what it is they do rather then why they do it, find themselves directionless and floundering in their chosen field.

By starting with why they exist, an organisation or individual can focusing on that purpose allowing clarity and congruency within their decision making. People are inspired and motivated by the why; it allows them to identify with the individual or organisation.

Simon presents his thoughts in a logical and easy to follow manner. His voice is enjoyable, and he presents his material passionately and with conviction. I enjoyed his presentation thoroughly and recommend it highly to anyone interested in developing a why to their business or interests in life.

Great book that delivers on its title. To inspire we need to focus on why we do things and not what or how we do them. He claims this why focus can streamline communications inside and outside a company. It is what helps to make an emotional connection. Its not that you have never heard this kind of idea, however it is the way he presents and plays with this concept that that makes it worth reading.

As far as the book goes, there's been very few idea books that have kept my attention this well through the whole book. The sound is a little tinny and I couldn't turn it up too much without some distortion and also, when playing it on my iPod, it would freeze whenever switching to a new chapter.

This is one of the most inspiring books I've ever read/listened to. It not only offers insights into how to run a successful business, it also provides guidance on how to live a fulfilling life.

I saw Simon first doing a TED talk online. While the book is a bit repetitive, I think it might be by design. This concept is simple but VERY powerful. I constantly found myself talking about the concepts, which is always a good sign that the book is resonating with me. HIGHLY recommend it.

Insightfulness: 4/5 stars.
Poor research and full-on-inaccuracies: -2/5 stars.


Reading this book is like listening to your mechanic say:
"People don't like horse manure, that's why the automobile succeeded in replacing the horse-drawn carriage." and: "Having a car allows you to get places faster. So without a car, you can’t get anywhere on time.”
And then, the mechanic follows that up with very useful advice on how to maintain your car. You appreciate the useful advice, but you are blown away by some of the other comments. Oh, and the mechanic happens to be the friendliest person you know!

The author comes across as an extremely kindhearted person, and so it pains me to write anything but the loveliest review. However, it also pains me to hear the author say:

"A company is a culture. A group of people brought together around a common set of values and beliefs." Certainly, each person in the group has a reason (a “Why” as the author calls it) for being a part of the group, but those reasons are not necessarily *shared* amongst the group.

The author makes a multitude of social, anthropological, technological and historical claims many of which are, to varying degrees, inaccurate and poorly researched. Other claims simply seem naïve of the author to make (eg. what were the Wright Brothers’ and Steve Jobs’ *true,* *deep-down internal* thought processes and motivations driving their achievements). And often times, the author exemplifies a misunderstanding of causality (akin to the horse manure/automobile logic above).

Ironically, the skewed-logic and faulty claims are invoked to support what are otherwise insightful conclusions. (eg, it is beneficial to employees/ers to choose their respective association with each other based on a common set of values and beliefs).

If you can make it through the frustrating distractions of repetitiveness and inaccuracies, this book does have useful tidbits.


(he does do a good job with narration)

It's incumbent on a book titled "How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action" that the book itself should in someway inspire. I hardly made it into this before I felt compelled to listen to something else. Repetitive and un-inspirational. Maybe it was the read or the content. Regardless it was not for me.

continues to use Apple as a model to support his theory. would have liked to hear a contrasting viewpoint.