The goal is to have you reflect deeply on what you have learned and experienced in the class. What value did you derive, what lessons did you learn, and/or what realizations did you come to because of

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In “Starts with Why” the book by Simon Sinek outline how the great leaders inspire actions. The first chapter of the book show how the assumptions we make an impact on the actions that we take. The author compares the United States car manufacturers and the Japan car manufacturers. These two cases show two different types of leaders who manipulate situations to get the final desired outcome. On the other hand, leaders who start a process with the result in their mind leaving other effects to fall into place naturally. Sinek points out two methods of attracting customers. Modern businesses manipulate their sales tactics to increase their sales. The manipulations carried out include promotions, aspirations, prices, and other elements. However, according to the author, the most common types of sales manipulation are promotions and pricing. The manipulations are short-term but affect the long-term profit and revenue patterns in the business. Sinek uses his innovation in the golden circle, which has three parts covering the why that address the purpose, how which address the process, and what that affects the process, result, and proof (Simon, 2009). The why question seeks to determine the purpose of business; why companies exist. The how question seeks to determine the process through which business and companies carry out their operations.

In the fourth chapter, the author focuses on the human nature of belonging. The performance of the human brain is described in the golden circle. Neocortex corresponds to the level in the golden circle. This level is responsible for the analytical and rational decisions made by the human brain. The limbic brain is made up if the two sections in the middle; they are mainly responsible for human feelings, loyalty, and trust. This level corresponds to the why level in the golden circle. When human beings use their brain to make gut decisions, they achieve a high level of confidence, and they have a strong feeling that the decision they made is right. The process of putting decisions into words is simplified when the decision-maker puts the questions of why and what into the emotional context. The main goal of a business should be to do business with people who believe in what the business believes. People develop trust in organizations when organizations serve the interests of the business clients and not their self-interests.

The process of increasing trust is guided by the three questions of what, why, and how. Companies that like specific producer commodities hardly differentiate themselves from the competition. Customers are driven by why; it seems to have larger market flexibility. For instance, customers would be more comfortable buying phones from apple and computers from dell despite the fact that Apple also produces computers. Employees produce good results and success in their work when they have a sense of belonging to a company. Employees tend to work and carry out activities as if they are doing for themselves. The why question in hiring is essential, It involves hiring employees who have a passion for what the business aims to achieve (Simon, 2009). After the passion level, experience and skills are evaluated. Big and successful companies hire workers who are already motivated and inspire them. Inspired employees are innovative and productive. Companies would rather not spend a huge amount of resources in terms of time and money converting their customers who could end up shifting to other competitors due to a feeling of dissatisfaction. A business should let people who believe in their culture and values do business with them instead of reaching out to clients they cannot sustain.

Great leaders have big charisma since they well understand the why aspect of belief. In comparing the characters of leaders, Sinek uses Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. While Steve Ballmer is energetic, Bill Gates, on the other hand, is charismatic. When an energetic person or leader talks, people are energized at that time but lose energy rather fast. When a charismatic person talks, people keep the talks in their minds for different durations of time up to many years. While energy commands little or no loyalty, charisma commands more loyalty. Visionary leaders answer the question of why they tend to have overactive imaginations, which they are optimistic that their imaginations can be accomplished. Sinek believes that why types of leaders can be successful but do not build successful businesses that can change the world. The "why" the category of leaders needs how type less they end up losing their vision in business. The major difference in vision and the mission statement is evident between the two categories of why and how leaders. A business founder has more direct contact with the outside business world when the business is small, and loss contact as the business becomes larger—the role of the founder's changes as the size of the business changes (Simon, 2009). Many struggles in modern business exist in differentiating between organizational communication and their true value. Human being relies on imagery and analogies to express their feelings. The writer demonstrates the importance of listening in communication. The celery tests state that what is good for competitors is equally good for the business owner. Filtering human thoughts by asking the why question helps in saving time and money and helps business owners and individuals to stay true to their course.

The author points out two companies, Walmart and Volkswagen, that have lost the sight of the original why. Initially, many clients associated Volkswagen as a car of the people, while the VE Beetle was seen to represent simplified and carefree life. As the two businesses have transformed and became super expensive, that action tends to have acted against them. Walmart founders formed the company with the main objective of helping the people by offering clients cheap priced products. The death of the initial founders has seen the transformation; the company moved away from helping people and continued to offer low prices. That landed the business into big troubles, and big loses. Passion is a primary driving factor; every company starts at a given idea (Simon, 2009). It is the passion that fuels the ideas. For the passion for thriving, it should be accompanied by "how" and efficient structures.

Sinek believes that the question of why in business does not result in looking ahead of what people aim to achieve in business. Why does not result from any form of market research or interviews between employees and customers. The author believes that why is a discovery process but not an intervention. The author believes that the aspect "why" is within a person, once people discover and know their "why," remaining true to it becomes a challenge. The author supports companies competing against themselves rather than competing with everyone else. People help people who are competing against themselves while they care less about people who compete with everyone else. In the modern world, people are doing business through increasing competition by altering product features and improved quality and better services. People and organizations should compete on being better than themselves. The same case would apply to various individuals. While many businesses appreciate the importance of why when starting their businesses, many of them fail to keep their why clear for several years after the start.

References

Simon, S. (2009). Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.