The inspirational bestseller that ignited a movement and asked us to find our WHY

Discover the book that is captivating millions on TikTok and that served as the basis for one of the most popular TED Talks of all time—with more than 56 million views and counting. Over a decade ago, Simon Sinek started a movement that inspired millions to demand purpose at work, to ask what was the WHY of their organization. Since then, millions have been touched by the power of his ideas, and these ideas remain as relevant and timely as ever.

START WITH WHY asks (and answers) the questions: why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?

People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers had little in common, but they all started with WHY. They realized that people won't truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind it.

START WITH WHY shows that the leaders who have had the greatest influence in the world all think, act and communicate the same way—and it's the opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Audio
Publication date

June 26, 2018
Dimensions

5.1 x 1.1 x 5.9 inches
ISBN-10

111813009X
ISBN-13

978-1984842305
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Start with Why is one of the most useful and powerful books I have read in years. Simple and elegant, it shows us how leaders should lead.”
-WILLIAM URY, coauthor of Getting to Yes

“Start with Why fanned the flames inside me. This book can lead you to levels of excellence you never considered attainable.”
-GENERAL CHUCK HORNER, air boss, Desert Storm

“Each story will force you to see things from an entirely different perspective. A perspective that is nothing short of the truth.”
-MOKHTAR LAMANI, former ambassador, special envoy to Iraq

From the Artist

Simon Sinek

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1984842307
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Audio; Unabridged edition (June 26, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 111813009X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1984842305
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.1 x 1.1 x 5.9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,418,973 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,194 in Motivational Management & Leadership
- #5,811 in Business Motivation & Self-Improvement (Books)
- #14,001 in Leadership & Motivation

Customer Reviews:
4.6 35,649 ratings

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Simon Sinek

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Simon Sinek is an optimist. He teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people. From members of Congress to foreign ambassadors, from small businesses to corporations like Microsoft and 3M, from Hollywood to the Pentagon, he has presented his ideas about the power of why. He has written two books, Leaders Eat Last and Start With Why and is quoted frequently by national publications. Sinek also regularly shares 140 characters of inspiration on Twitter (@simonsinek).

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John H. Hwung

A MASTER book of other books!!!

Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2012

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THIS IS THE GREATEST BOOK EVER PUBLISHED IN THE LAST 10 YEARS!!!

If I could give this book 10 stars, I would! This book beats many other books. This book is so exciting to read that I read it three times! The beginning of the book said it extremely well -- This book is about an unique kind of leadership that has the natural recurring pattern of inspiring, influencing and affecting people. It is about a very small group of leaders that achieve disproportionate amount of influences in their industries/areas compare to other leaders. The most prominent example is, of course, Steve Jobs who displayed a recurring pattern of changing one industry after another.

(Of all the books that study Steve Jobs, this is probably the best one although it is not a book on Jobs' biography. However, this book offers the best angle to understand his motivation and influence.)

The core of this book is about the kind of WHYs that a special kind of leaders has that enable them to have the natural recurring pattern of inspiring, influencing and changing people and industries. The prime examples of this kind of leaders quoted in this book are Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Wright Brothers.

This book is revolutionary. All the top business schools should reevaluate their curriculum based on this book! All the top business consultants should reconsider their theories and recommendations based on this book! All the writers on leadership should read this book and revise their theories! All political leaders in the world should read this book! All board of directors of corporations should read this book and learn how to select the next CEOs! ...

This book can be considered the MASTER book to be read before reading books like "From Good to Great", "Stall Points", "The Innovator's Dilemma" and the follow-on books, "Crossing the Chasm" ...

The central theme of this book is WHY -- the essence, the core, the purpose of a person's life, of leadership, and the starting point of a corporation. Without the clarity of this WHY, the life of a person, the leadership, and the products and services offered by a corporation are all fuzzy and treated as commodities. This is so very true. Look around us: Though we (persons, organizations and corporations) are special in some ways, yet we are almost all commodities -- except the very few that display the recurring pattern of major changes and influences such as Jobs, Apple and Google. These are the ones that have the clarity of WHY and the discipline of diligently and strictly enforcing their HOWs (principles, methods, criteria) in producing the WHATs (behaviors, products and services).

There are three views of WHY + HOW + WHAT presented in this book:
1. Looking from the top -- the WHY in the center, the HOW in the middle and the WHAT in the outer layer form a GOLDEN CIRCLE.
2. Looking from the side -- the WHY at the top layer, the HOW in the middle layer and the WHAT in the bottom layer form a cone.
3. Viewing in three dimensions -- with the external world attached to the base of WHAT, the whole thing is a megaphone for the leader or corporation to sound out its WHY.

These views are wonderful ways for us to look at leadership, to understand the life cycle of a corporation, and summarily see why companies thrived and why they died. These views can even be applied to our personal lives.

Of course, this book has some blemishes. But these defects do not distract from its greatness.
1. The grammar is terrible. The whole book should be reviewed by a competent editor.
2. The WHYs are not strictly examined and evaluated. This book treats all WHYs from leaders, entrepreneurs and corporations as equal when in fact they are not. Probably most of the WHYs are the rewording of WHATs in disguise. Maybe a lot of WHYs are re-branded HOWs. Perhaps only a small number of WHYs can have the recurring pattern of inspiration and influence. I hope the future editions of this book can elucidate this point.
3. The HOWs gets much less treatment than the WHYs and WHATs in the book. It would be great if this topic is covered in more detail.
4. Maybe 60% of this book is about corporations and not on leadership as claimed in the beginning of the book. I hope the author can focus more on the recurring pattern of inspiration and influence of leadership.
5. Not everything stated in this book is correct. The points discussed in this book about Jobs and Apple are good examples. Please read "Inside Apple" and Jobs biographies for more correct views on Jobs and Apple.

At the first reading, the book seems repetitious. The WHY, HOW and WHAT get repeated over and over. However, on the 2nd and 3rd reading, this apparent repetition disappears and you can see the different points that the author was trying to emphasize.

I would like to recommend some future topics or books for Simon Sinek:
a) Qualify and rank levels of WHYs -- not all WHYs are equal. Probably some are top-notch while most are mediocre. Also, tell us how to construct best kinds of WHYs.
b) Compare the WHYs to big tech companies, the WHYs of big Wall Street firms (if they have any???) and the WHYs of big retail companies.
c) Compare the WHYs of big empires in history
d) Compare the WHYs of nations in WWI and WWII
e) Compare the WHYs of great leaders in history
f) Compare the WHYs of great geniuses
g) Consider how WHYs can be incorporated into Teachers' College (Ed College). It is the teachers who educate our future generations. They need to be thoroughly immersed in the understanding of The Golden Circle, The Cone and The Megaphone.
h) Consider how WHYs can be incorporated into the K-12 and the college education
g) Consider how WHYs can be incorporated into and how HOWs can be enforced in our political systems. We have far too many politicians and not enough true leaders
i) Consider how WHYs can be incorporated into our law schools. Our lawyers really need a strong dose of treatment.

In summary, this book is dynamic. It's a dynamite! It's the best book I have read in the last 10 years!

48 people found this helpful

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B. L. Keller

Learn Why Your WHY Is Important

Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2021

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While the subtitle of this book (How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action) suggests that the content is for leaders of large organizations, I believe the book's details can apply to all kinds of leaders and businesses.
The main mantra of the book is:

People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.

The book includes stories of many different companies. Some were successful, and others were not. The successful ones were led by individuals who strongly believed in something (they had a Why), which was the business's guiding principle. The unsuccessful companies may have started out doing well, but when they lost their focus on their Why, or if the person who had that vision left the organization, the business started to falter.

I agree with the author’s point that having a strong Why for your business can help that business be successful. I highlighted all the successful companies and individuals in the book and want to study them further. Here’s an alphabetical list of who I intend to examine:

- Apple & Steve Jobs
- Bridgeport Financial
- Ernest Shackleton
- Harley Davidson
- Henry Ford
- Ron Bruder — Education for Employment Foundation
- Southwest Airlines
- Thomas Edison
- The Wright Brothers

One key concept from the book that hit home with me was that when you have a strong Why you will naturally attract individuals to your business who share that Why. A strong Why will allow you to market based on these beliefs instead of using manipulative tactics like price, features, and benefits.

That’s what a WHY does. When it is clearly understood, it attracts people who believe the same thing.

Another central point Why is so important relates to hiring (or being hired). It’s essential to have everyone in an organization believe in the same Why to have the best performing team. This requires a leader who knows their Why and knows how to share the details of their Why with others.

While reading the books, I made some other highlights that I think were important concepts:

- “There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.”
- “WHAT companies do are external factors, but WHY they do it is something deeper.”
- “Why the product exists must first be considered and why someone wants it must match.”
- “If a customer feels inspired to buy a product, rather than manipulated, they will be able to verbalize the reasons why they think what they bought is better.”
- “Knowing your WHY is not the only way to be successful, but it is the only way to maintain a lasting success and have a greater blend of innovation and flexibility.”
- “No matter where we go, we trust those with whom we are able to perceive common values or beliefs.”

This book has helped me personally. I’m in the process of trying to start a business, teaching others how to use productivity software (so far just Microsoft Excel, but I have plans to branch out to other applications). My training content is specifically geared towards those who may be intimidated by software and computers in general.

I need to spend more time thinking about my Why, but my initial Why is that I believe anyone can learn to use productivity software; they need to get past any fear of using the software and computers. I think the biggest fear people have when learning new things is the fear of the unknown. I want to show people it’s not hard to learn to use software and computers if they take a little time to learn the basics. I want to help them convert the unknown to a known.

If you’ve thought about starting or are running your own business, do you know your Why? Is your Why evident in everything you do related to that business? If not, I would urge you to take some time to read Start With Why and to get clear on your Why.

34 people found this helpful

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Lindsey Ostrom

Such a great book

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2023

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This book really teaches you all the ways companies use manipulations to advertise or get you to buy something and that great companies start with a “why” and by inspiration! It’s a great book. I would recommend this book for anyone in a leadership position.

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Maria K.

Unique take on leadership

Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2023

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If you familiar with Simon’s TED talk, this book enables you to take a deeper dive into his ideas on leadership and a power of starting with WHY. Having a physical book enables me to go back and reread specific parts that are relevant to me at that moment. It also allows me to analyze individual points at my own phase.

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Franss

Un concept très intéressant

Reviewed in France on October 9, 2023

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Livre (EN ANGLAIS) très intéressant de Simon Sinek. Le livre tourne autour du concept bien connu de Simon Sinek: le golden circle, qui met en evidence l’importance du « pourquoi » qui précède le « quoi ». Le livre est basé du le « Ted Talk » de Simon Sinek.
Je trouve le livre un peu long par rapport au contenu.
Livre reçu neuf sans aucune marque d’usure. État parfait.

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Pete E

Decent Book - Slightly Repetitive

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 28, 2023

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This book is well written and very enjoyable to read. The theory Simon has about starting with why is excellent. He explains it very well throughout the book and the book it is well written and accessible.
My only issue is that he talks about Apple a lot. And whilst they are a great example, they get a mention in nearly every chapter, it starts to feel a bit repetitive at points.
Don't let that put you off though and it hasn't stopped me buying another of his books which I am looking forward to reading!

One person found this helpful

RCDRO

Lecture facile

Reviewed in France on November 6, 2023

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Des bons conseils à suivre

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Jaison

"Start With Why" by Simon Sinek: Discovering the Power of Purpose

Reviewed in India on May 17, 2023

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"Start With Why" by Simon Sinek is a thought-provoking and inspiring book that delves into the concept of purpose and its impact on success, leadership, and personal fulfillment. Through real-life examples and engaging narratives, Sinek challenges conventional thinking and encourages readers to embrace their "why" to drive meaningful change. Here's my review of this influential book:

Insightful Concept:
The central idea of "Start With Why" revolves around the power of purpose and the significance of understanding the "why" behind our actions. Sinek argues that great leaders and organizations, regardless of their field, start by clarifying their purpose and conveying it authentically to inspire others. This concept encourages readers to dig deeper into their motivations, values, and beliefs, fostering a greater sense of purpose in both personal and professional endeavors.

Compelling Examples:
Throughout the book, Sinek presents numerous real-life examples that illustrate the importance of starting with why. From successful companies like Apple and Southwest Airlines to influential leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Sinek effectively demonstrates how a clear sense of purpose drives loyalty, engagement, and long-term success. These examples bring the concept to life and make it relatable for readers, allowing them to envision how they can apply it in their own lives.

Engaging Writing Style:
Sinek's writing style is engaging and accessible, making complex ideas easy to understand and relatable. He combines storytelling, anecdotes, and research to create a compelling narrative that keeps readers captivated throughout. The book flows smoothly, striking a balance between theory and practical application, ensuring that readers can grasp the concepts and connect them to their own experiences.

Thought-Provoking Questions:
One of the strengths of "Start With Why" is the thought-provoking questions it poses to readers. Sinek encourages introspection and self-reflection, prompting readers to consider their own "why" and how it influences their decision-making, leadership, and overall fulfillment. This introspective approach adds depth to the book, making it more than just a theoretical exploration but a catalyst for personal growth and transformation.

Relevant for Various Audiences:
While "Start With Why" is often associated with leadership and business, its principles are applicable to a wide range of fields and audiences. Whether you're an entrepreneur, manager, student, or someone seeking personal growth, this book offers valuable insights into understanding your purpose and finding fulfillment in what you do. The concepts discussed have the potential to positively impact various aspects of life, both professionally and personally.

Critique:
One aspect that some readers may find lacking in the book is a more detailed exploration of the practical steps and strategies for discovering and implementing one's "why." While Sinek provides general guidance, readers seeking more concrete methodologies might need to look to complementary resources for additional support.

Conclusion:
"Start With Why" is an enlightening and influential book that challenges readers to think deeply about their purpose and the impact it can have on their lives and the world around them. Simon Sinek's engaging storytelling and compelling examples make this book a captivating read, leaving readers inspired to explore their own "why" and apply it in meaningful ways. Whether you're a leader, entrepreneur, or someone seeking personal growth, "Start With Why" offers valuable insights that can transform the way you approach your work and life.

5 people found this helpful

Norwaylove01

Good but repetitive!

Reviewed in Germany on October 24, 2023

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Das Buch war eine interessante Lektüre und ich habe vieles daraus lernen können. Dennoch sind einige Stellen sehr oft wiederholt worden, was es verstärkt hat aber dennoch auch ein wenig zäh gemacht hat.

Ich würde es für Führungspersonal definitiv empfehlen aber für mich war es ‚nur‘ ein gut und ein gutes lesen aber kein wow!

2 people found this helpful

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Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action Audio CD – Unabridged, June 26, 2018

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