Start With 'Why' - TED Talk from Simon Sinek

how do you explain when things don't go as we assume or better how do you explain when others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all of the

assumptions for example why is Apple so Innovative year after year after year after year they're more Innovative than all their competition and yet they're just a computer company they're just

like everyone else they have the same access the same Talent the same agencies the same Consultants the same media then why is it that they seem to have something

different why is it that Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights Movement he wasn't the only man who suffered in a preil rights America and he certainly

wasn't the only great oror of the day why him and why is it that the W brothers were able to figure out controlled powered man flight when there were certainly other teams who were

better qualified better funed did and they didn't achieve powered man flight and the right Brothers beat them to it there's something else at play

here why how what this little idea explains why some organizations and some leaders are able to inspire where others aren't let me Define the terms really

quickly every single person every single organization on the planet knows what they do 100% some know how they do it with you call it your differentiating value

proposition or your proprietary process or your USP but very very few people or organizations know why they do what they do and by why I don't mean to make a

profit that's a result it's always a result by why I mean what's your purpose what's your cause what's your belief why does your organization

exist why do you get out of bed in the morning and why should anyone care well as a result the way we think the way we act the way we communicate is from the outside in it's obvious we go from the

clearest thing to the fuzziest thing but the inspired leaders and the inspir inspired organizations regardless of their size regardless of their industry all think act and communicate from the

inside out let me give you an example I use apple because they're easy to understand and everybody gets it if Apple were like

everyone else a marketing message from them might sound like this we make great computers they're beautifully designed simple to use and user friendly want to

buy one me and that's how most of us communicate that's how most marketing is done that's how most sales is done and that's how most of us communicate interpersonally we say what we do we say

how we're different or how we better and we expect some sort of behavior a purchase a vote something like that here's our new law firm uh we have the best lawyers with the biggest clients we have you know we always perform for our

clients do business with us here's our new car it gets great gas mileage it has you know leather seats by our car but it's uninspiring here's how Apple

actually communicates everything we do we believe in challenging the status quo we believe in thinking

differently the way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed simple to use and user friendly we just happen to make great computers want to buy

one totally different right you're ready to buy a computer from me all I did was reverse the order of the information what it proves to us is that people don't buy what you do people buy why you do it people don't buy what you do they

buy why you do it this explains why every single person in this room is perfectly comfortable buying a computer from Apple but we're also perfectly comfortable buying an MP3 player from

Apple or a phone from Apple or a DVR from Apple but as I said before Apple's just a computer company there's nothing that distinguishes them structurally from any of their competitors their competitors are all equally qualified to

make all of these products in fact they tried a few years ago Gateway came out with flat screen TVs they're eminently qualified to make flat screen TVs they've been making flat screen monitors

for years nobody bought one but if you don't know why you do what you do and people respond to why you do what you do then how will anybody

how will you ever get people to to to to vote for you or buy something from you or more importantly be loyal and want to be a part of what it is what that you do again the goal is not just is to sell

people who need what you have the goal is to sell to people who believe what you believe the goal is not just to hire people who need a job it's to hire people who believe what you believe I

always say that you know there's uh if you if you if you um hire people just because they can do a job they'll work for your money but if you hire people who believe what you believe they work for you with blood and sweat and tears

and nowhere nowhere else is there a better example of this than with the R Brothers most people don't know about Samuel Pont Langley and back in the early 20th century the pursuit of

powered man flight was like the do com of the day everybody was trying it and Samuel Pont Langley had what we assume to be the recipe for success I mean even

now you ask people why did your product or why did your company fail and people always give you the per same permutation of the same three things under capitalized the wrong people bad market conditions it's always the same three

things so let's explore that Samuel Pont Langley was given $50,000 by the war department to figure out this flying machine money was no problem he

held a seat at Harvard and worked at the Smithsonian and was extremely well connected he knew all the big minds of the day he hired the best mines money could find and the market conditions

were fantastic the New York Times followed him around everywhere and everyone was rooting for Langley and how come we've never heard of Samuel Pont Langley

a few hundred miles away in Dayton Ohio oral and Wilbur Wright they had none of what we consider to be the recipe for Success they had no money they paid for their dream with the

proceeds from their bicycle shop not a single person on the ripe Brothers team had a college education not even Orville or Wilbur and the New York Times followed them around

nowhere the difference was Orville and Wilbur were driven by a cause by a Purpose By A belief they believed that if they could figure out this flying

machine it'll change the course of the world Samuel Pont Langley was different he wanted to be rich and he wanted to be famous he was in pursuit of the result

he was in pursuit of the riches and lo and behold look what happened the people who believed in the W brother's dream worked with them with blood and sweat and tears the others just worked for the paycheck

and they tell stories of how every time the rri brothers went out they would have to take five sets of parts because that's how many times they would crash before they came in for

supper and eventually on December 17th 1903 the R Brothers took flight