Simon Sinek: Start With Why
“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it,” Simon Sinek
Motivational speaker and writer Simon Sinek believes he’s codified the reason why some individuals and organisations are so inspirational. He calls it the world’s simplest idea — The Golden Circle.
It comprises of three rings with WHY in the centre, HOW in the middle ring and WHAT on the outer ring.
“Every single person and organisation on the planet knows WHAT they do, 100 percent. Some know HOW they do it — whether you call it your differentiating proposition, your proprietary process or your USP. But very, very few people or organisations know WHY they do what they do.
“And by WHY I don’t mean to make a profit. That’s a result. By WHY I mean ‘What’s your purpose?’, ‘What’s your cause?’ ‘What’s your belief’, ‘Why does your organisation exist?’ Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care?
“The way we think, we act, we communicate is from the outside in — from the clearest to the fuzziest thing. But the inspired leaders and inspired organisations, regardless of their size or industry — think, act, communicate from the inside out…”
Links:
1. More Sinek videos at his YouTube channel
2. The TEDx talk that kicked it off.
3. His website and blog.
The pilot who cares
[via WSJ.com and Church of the Customer Blog]
Here’s a heartwarming story of a pilot who cares. WSJ describes the unusual lengths by which Capt Denny Flanagan of UA will go to keep passengers happy.
He passes out information cards to passengers with fun facts about the plane; he signs two of them, whose owners will win a bottle of wine.
He snaps pictures of animals in the cargo hold to show owners their pets are safely on board.
He instructs flight attendants to pass out napkins asking passengers to write notes about experiences on United, good or bad.
He orders 200 McDonald’s hamburgers for passengers if his flight is delayed or diverted.
Capt Flanagan personally calls parents of unaccompanied children to give them reassurances when there are delays.
Kenneth Klein, whose 12-year-old son was delayed by thunderstorms in Chicago last month on a trip from Los Angeles to see his grandfather in Toronto, relates: “I picked up the phone and he said, ‘This is the captain from your son’s flight.’ It was unbelievable. One of the big problems is kids sit on planes and no one tells you what’s happening, and this was the exact opposite.”
Capt Flanagan explains his technique: “I just treat everyone like it’s the first flight they’ve ever flown.” The 56-year-old Navy veteran who lives on an Ohio farm and cuts the figure of a classic airline captain – trim and gray-haired – says: “The customer deserves a good travel experience.”
Randall Levelle of Morgantown, W.Va., and his family were flying to San Francisco because his father-in-law had just died. Capt. Flanagan invited Mr. Levelle’s three children into the cockpit during boarding.
“If other folks in the airline industry had the same attitude, it would go a long way to mitigating some of the negative stuff that has come about in the last four or five years,” Mr. Levelle said.
