100 Top Quotes From Start with Why
Start with Why is a thought-provoking exploration of what sets successful leaders and organizations apart from their counterparts. Simon Sinek introduces the powerful concept of the "Golden Circle," which consists of three concentric circles: "What," "How," and "Why." While most companies focus on explaining "What" they do and "How" they do it, Sinek argues that truly inspiring leaders and organizations start with "Why" they do what they do. By delving into the core beliefs, values, and purpose that drive their actions, they create a deep emotional connection with their audience and foster unwavering loyalty.
Using captivating examples from prominent companies like Apple and Southwest Airlines, Sinek demonstrates how a strong sense of purpose ignites passion and innovation, resulting in long-term success. This book serves as an insightful guide for leaders, entrepreneurs, and individuals alike, urging them to embrace their intrinsic motivations and articulate their "Why" to inspire and influence others, ultimately creating lasting impact and fulfillment in their endeavors. (Start with Why Summary).
Start with Why Quotes
"Great companies don't hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them.”
“People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe” (Meaning)
"You don’t hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.”
"There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it. Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do. By WHY I mean your purpose, cause or belief - WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care?"
"When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you.”
"Leadership requires two things: a vision of the world that does not yet exist and the ability to communicate it.”
"The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen.”
"Some in management positions operate as if they are in a tree of monkeys. They make sure that everyone at the top of the tree looking down sees only smiles. But all too often, those at the bottom looking up see only asses.”
"Two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.”
"Working hard for something we do not care about is called stress, working hard for something we love is called passion.”
"Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them. People are either motivated or they are not. Unless you give motivated people something to believe in, something bigger than their job to work toward, they will motivate themselves to find a new job and you’ll be stuck with whoever’s left.”
"Charisma has nothing to do with energy; it comes from a clarity of WHY. It comes from absolute conviction in an ideal bigger than oneself. Energy, in contrast, comes from a good night’s sleep or lots of caffeine. Energy can excite. But only charisma can inspire. Charisma commands loyalty. Energy does not.”
"Regardless of WHAT we do in our lives, our WHY—our driving purpose, cause or belief—never changes.”
"Great leaders and great organizations are good at seeing what most of us can’t see. They are good at giving us things we would never think of asking for.”
"Being the leader means you hold the highest rank, either by earning it, good fortune or navigating internal politics. Leading, however, means that others willingly follow you—not because they have to, not because they are paid to, but because they want to.”
"Passion alone can't cut it. For passion to survive it needs structure. A why without how has little probability of success.”
"All organizations start with WHY, but only the great ones keep their WHY clear year after year. Those who forget WHY they were founded show up to the race every day to outdo someone else instead of to outdo themselves. The pursuit, for those who lose sight of WHY they are running the race, is for the medal or to beat someone else.”
"Innovation is not born from the dream, innovation is born from the struggle.”
"This is important because our behavior is affected by our assumptions or our perceived truths. We make decisions based on what we think we know.”
"Great leaders are those who trust their gut. They are those who understand the art before the science. They win hearts before minds. They are the ones who start with WHY.”
"Instead of asking, “WHAT should we do to compete?” the questions must be asked, “WHY did we start doing WHAT we’re doing in the first place, and WHAT can we do to bring our cause to life considering all the technologies and market opportunities available today?”
"That’s the problem with love; we only know when we’ve found it because it “just feels right.”
"When we tell people to do their jobs, we get workers. When we trust people to get the job done, we get leaders.”
"Average companies give their people something to work on. In contrast, the most innovative organizations give their people something to work toward.”
"Our need to belong is not rational, but it is a constant that exists across all people in all cultures.”
"There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.”
"For great leaders, The Golden Circle is in balance. They are in pursuit of WHY, they hold themselves accountable to HOW they do it and WHAT they do serves as the tangible proof of what they believe.”
"If the leader of the organization can’t clearly articulate WHY the organization exists in terms beyond its products or services, then how does he expect the employees to know WHY to come to work?”
"Leadership is always about people.”
"If they had started their sales pitch with WHY the product existed in the first place, the product itself would have become the proof of the higher cause—proof of WHY.”
"The farther right you go on the curve, the more you will encounter the clients and customers who may need what you have, but don't necessarily believe what you believe. As clients, they are the ones for whom, no matter how hard you work, it's never enough. Everything usually boils down to price with them. They are rarely loyal. They rarely give referrals and sometimes you may even wonder out loud why you still do business with them. ""They just don't get it,"" our gut tells us. The importance of identifying this group is so that you can avoid doing business with them.”
"We are drawn to leaders and organizations that are good at communicating what they believe. Their ability to make us feel like we belong, to make us feel special, safe and not alone is part of what gives them the ability to inspire us.”
"There are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or influence. Those who lead inspire us.”
"Our visions are the world we imagine, the tangible results of what the world would look like if we spent every day in pursuit of our WHY.”
"The only way people will know what you believe is by the things you say and do, and if you’re not consistent in the things you say and do, no one will know what you believe.”
"Finding WHY is a process of discovery, not invention.”
"There are many ways to motivate people to do things, but loyalty comes from the ability to inspire people.”
"For values or guiding principles to be truly effective they have to be verbs. It’s not “integrity,” it’s “always do the right thing.” It’s not “innovation,” it’s “look at the problem from a different angle.” Articulating our values as verbs gives us a clear idea … we”
"WHY: Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do. When I say WHY, I don’t mean to make money—that’s a result. By WHY I mean what is your purpose, cause or belief? WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care?”
"Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them.”
"A company is a culture. A group of people brought together around a common set of values and beliefs. It’s not products or services that bind a company together. It’s not size and might that make a company strong, it’s the culture—the strong sense of beliefs and values that everyone, from the CEO to the receptionist, all share. So the logic follows, the goal is not to hire people who simply have a skill set you need, the goal is to hire people who believe what you believe.”
"Every company, organization or group with the ability to inspire starts with a person or small group of people who were inspired to do something bigger than themselves. Gaining clarity of WHY, ironically, is not the hard part. It is the discipline to trust one's gut, to stay true to one's purpose, cause or beliefs. Remaining completely in balance and authentic is the most difficult part.”
"The lack of a clear set of values and beliefs, along with the weak culture that resulted, created the conditions for an every-man-for-himself environment, the long-term impact of which could yield little else than disaster. This is caveman stuff.”
"If the people aren’t looking out for the community, then the benefits of a community erode. Many companies have star employees and star salesmen and so on, but few have a culture that produces great people as a rule and not an exception.”
"It’s not Bill Gates’s passion for computers that inspires us, it’s his undying optimism that even the most complicated problems can be solved.”
"Trust does not emerge simply because a seller makes a rational case why the customer should buy a product or service, or because an executive promises change. Trust is not a checklist. Fulfilling all your responsibilities does not create trust. Trust is a feeling, not a rational experience. We trust some people and companies even when things go wrong, and we don’t trust others even though everything might have gone exactly as it should have."
"Greatness is not born from one success. Greatness is born from persevering through the countless failed attempts that preceded.”
"People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.”
"The vision is the public statement of the founder’s intent, WHY the company exists. It is literally the vision of a future that does not yet exist. The mission statement is a description of the route, the guiding principles—HOW the company intends to create that future. When both of those things are stated clearly, the WHY-type and the HOW-type are both certain about their roles in the partnership. Both are working together with clarity of purpose and a plan to get there"
"When you start with WHY, those who believe what you believe are drawn to you for very personal reasons. It is those who share your values and beliefs, not the quality of your products, that will cause the system to tip.”
"Successful succession is more than selecting someone with an appropriate skill set—it’s about finding someone who is in lockstep with the original cause around which the company was founded. Great second or third CEOs don’t take the helm to implement their own vision of the future; they pick up the original banner and lead the company into the next generation. That’s why we call it succession, not replacement. There is a continuity of vision.”
"We say WHAT we do, we sometimes say HOW we do it, but we rarely say WHY we do WHAT we do.”
"Imagine if every organization started with WHY. Decisions would be simpler. Loyalties would be greater. Trust would be a common currency.”
"Products with a clear sense of WHY give people a way to tell the outside world who they are and what they believe. Remember, people don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it. If a company does not have a clear sense of WHY then it is impossible for the outside world to perceive anything more than WHAT the company does. And when that happens, manipulations that rely on pushing price, features, service or quality become the primary currency of differentiation.”
"Even with objective metrics in hand, the argument about which is better or which is worse without first establishing a common standard creates nothing more than debate.”
"The WHY exists in the part of the brain that controls feelings and decision-making but not language. WHATs exist in the part of the brain that controls rational thought and language.”
"There are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or influence. Those who lead inspire us. Whether individuals or organizations, we follow those who lead not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead not for them, but for ourselves. This is a book for those who want to inspire others and for those who want to find someone to inspire them.”
"Only when the WHY is clear and when people believe what you believe can a true loyal relationship develop.”
"Great companies don`t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them. People are either motivated or they are not. Unless you give motivated people something to believe in, something better than their job to work toward, they will motivate themselves to find a new job and you`ll be stuck with whoever`s left.”
"People who love going to work are more productive and more creative. They go home happier and have happier families. They treat their colleagues and clients and customers better.”
"You have to be careful what you think you know.”
"Those who lead are able to do so because those who follow trust that the decisions made at the top have the best interest of the group at heart. In turn, those who trust work hard because they feel like they are working for something bigger than themselves.”
"Companies that fail to communicate a sense of WHY force us to make decisions with only empirical evidence. This is why those decisions take more time, feel difficult or leave us uncertain.”
"WHAT: Every single company and organization on the planet knows WHAT they do. This is true no matter how big or small, no matter what industry. Everyone is easily able to describe the products or services a company sells or the job function they have within that system. WHATs are easy to identify. HOW: Some companies and people know HOW they do WHAT they do. "
"But when a company clearly communicates their WHY, what they believe, and we believe what they believe, then we will sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to include those products or brands in our lives.”
"In order to improve HOW and WHAT we do, we constantly look to what others are doing. We attend conferences, read books, talk to friends and colleagues to get their input and advice, and sometimes we are also the dispensers of advice. We are in pursuit of understanding the best practices of others to help guide us. But it is a flawed assumption that what works for one organization will work for another. Even if the industries, sizes and market conditions are the same, the notion that “if it’s good for them, it’s good for us” is simply not true.”
"Cultures are groups of people who come together around a common set of values and beliefs. When we share values and beliefs with others, we form trust. Trust of others allows us to rely on others to help protect our children and ensure our personal survival.”
"Like so many before it, the company confused innovation with novelty.”
"Instead of asking, “WHAT should we do to compete?” the questions must be asked, “WHY did we start doing WHAT we’re doing in the first place, and WHAT can we do to bring our cause to life considering all the technologies and market opportunities available today?” But”
"There are many ways to motivate people to do things, but loyalty comes from the ability to inspire people. Only when the WHY is clear and when people believe what you believe can a true loyal relationship develop.”
"The course of time, all of Apple’s competitors lost their WHY. Now all those companies define themselves by WHAT they do: we make computers. They turned from companies with a cause into companies that sold products. And when that happens, price, quality, service and features become the primary currency to motivate a purchase decision. At that point a company and its products have ostensibly become commodities. As any company forced to compete on price, quality, service or features alone can attest, it is very hard to differentiate for any period of time or build loyalty on those factors alone.”
"Those who are inspired are willing to pay a premium or endure inconvenience, even personal suffering. Those who are able to inspire will create a following of people—supporters, voters, customers, workers—who act for the good of the whole not because they have to, but because they want to.”
"When they are unclear about your WHY, WHAT you do has no context. Even though”
"The problem was, they advertised their product as a “5GB mp3 player.” It is exactly the same message as Apple’s “1,000 songs in your pocket.” The difference is Creative told us WHAT their product was and Apple told us WHY we needed it.”
"When people know WHY you do WHAT you do, they are willing to give you credit for everything that could serve as proof of WHY.”
"There’s barely a product or service on the market today that customers can’t buy from someone else for about the same price, about the same quality, about the same level of service and about the same features. If you truly have a first-mover’s advantage, it’s probably lost in a matter of months. If you offer something truly novel, someone else will soon come up with something similar and maybe even better. But if you ask most businesses why their customers are their customers, most will tell you it’s because of superior quality, features, price or service. In other words, most companies have no clue why their customers are their customers.”
"If most companies don’t really know why their customers are their customers or why their employees are their employees, then how do they know how to attract more employees and encourage loyalty among those they already have?”
"It’s not “integrity,” it’s “always do the right thing.”
"Don’t forget, the superior Betamax technology did not beat out the substandard VHS technology as the standard format for videotape in the 1980s.”
"Manipulative techniques have become such a mainstay in American business today that it has become virtually impossible for some to kick the habit. Like any addiction, the drive is not to get sober, but to find the next fix faster and more frequently. And as good as the short-term highs may feel, they have a deleterious impact on the long-term health of an organization.”
"Many companies have star employees and star salesmen and so on, but few have a culture that produces great people as a rule and not an exception.”
"Unless you give motivated people something to believe in, something bigger than their job to work toward, they will motivate themselves to find a new job and you’ll be stuck with whoever’s left.”
"Trust begins to emerge when we have a sense that another person or organization is driven by things other than their own self-gain. With”
"Leadership is the ability to rally people not for a single event, but for years.”
"So the logic follows, the goal is not to hire people who simply have a skill set you need, the goal is to hire people who believe what you believe.”
"It doesn't matter when we start. It doesn't matter where we start. All that matters is that we start!”
"But only companies that act like commodities are the ones who wake up every day with the challenge of how to differentiate.”
"They didn't examine the problem and accumulate data to figure out the best solution - they engineered the outcome they wanted from the beginning. if they didn't achieve their desired outcome, they understood it was because of a decision they made at the start of a process”
"Don’t forget that a WHY is just a belief, HOWs are the actions we take to realize that belief and WHATs are the results of those actions.”
"If we don’t understand the cause, then even the right answers will always steer us wrong … eventually. The truth, you see, is always revealed … eventually.”
"She’s a great leader because she understands that earning the trust of an organization doesn’t come from setting out to impress everyone, it comes from setting out to serve those who serve her.”
"Henry Ford summed it up best. ""If I had asked people what they wanted,"" he said, ""they would have said a faster horse.”
"There is a big difference between repeat business and loyalty. Repeat business is when people do business with you multiple times. Loyalty is when people are willing to turn down a better product or a better price to continue doing business with you. Loyal customers often don’t even bother to research the competition or entertain other options. Loyalty is not easily won. Repeat business, however, is. All it takes is more manipulations.”
"But no matter how inspiring a dream maybe, a dream that cannot come to life stays a dream.”
"For values or guiding principles to be truly effective they have to be verbs. It’s not “integrity,” it’s “always do the right thing.” It’s not “innovation,” it’s “look at the problem from a different angle.” Articulating our values as verbs gives us a clear idea - we have a clear idea of how to act in any situation.”
"When the person who personifies the WHY departs without clearly articulating WHY the company was founded in the first place, they leave no clear cause for their successor to lead.”
"They never have the time or money to do it right the first time,” she said of her client, “but they always have the time and money to do it again.”
"Like all inspired leaders, he recognizes that his role is to lead the cause, but it is others who will be physically responsible for bringing that cause to life.”
"Learning the WHY of a company or an organization or understanding the WHY of any social movement always starts with one thing: you.”
"To Inspire People to Do the Things That Inspire Them”
"Again, the part of the brain that controls decision-making doesn’t control language, so we rationalize.”
"You can run a company, you can manage an organization, but you can lead only people.”
"Drop your prices low enough and people will buy from you.”
"Money can’t buy happiness, but it pays for the yacht to pull alongside it.”
― Quotes from the book Start with Why by Simon Sinek
Start with Why Author
Simon Sinek is a renowned motivational speaker, author, and leadership expert whose work centers around the concept of "Start with Why." In his influential book "Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action," Sinek explores the power of purpose-driven leadership and its impact on inspiring individuals and organizations to achieve remarkable success. He argues that truly exceptional leaders and companies understand the "why" behind their actions, which serves as a guiding principle for decision-making and fosters unwavering loyalty from employees and customers alike. Sinek's insightful analysis of successful companies and leaders provides a roadmap for creating a meaningful and lasting impact in a world often driven by short-term gains. With his clear and compelling message, Simon Sinek challenges us all to seek purpose in our endeavors, unlocking the potential for extraordinary achievements and positively influencing the world around us.
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
