I met Simon in 2012, two years after he delivered his TED talk which is now the third most popular TED TALK in the world. At the time of our meeting, the UK had yet to discover Simon but I was a fan of his work. I had listened to his inspirational interview on a podcast in 2010 and had read his bestselling book ‘Start With Why’.
If you haven’t heard of the ‘Golden Circle’ of marketing, where have you been hiding? I suggest you watch him in action here. Simon Sinek’s accurate viewpoint of millennials in the workplace broke the internet in 2017. His interview was watched and applauded by 250 million people and offers formidable advice on parenting, social media and company organisational strategy.
You may have several ‘virtual role models’ in life, but upon meeting them you often find that they are egocentric, impertinent, nothing like they appear on paper or in the press, leaving you heavily disheartened. Simon however, is one of those very rare individuals who is truly authentic, eloquent, humble and kind. Yes he speaks as eloquently as you see him on stage! He’s gifted with outstanding communication skills, yet he has never had any public speaking lessons in his life.
People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.SIMON SINEK
Here are the best pieces of advice I received from him in our meeting:
- People don’t buy what we do, they buy why we do it.
- See your team as heartcounts not headcounts that you can lay off based on performance.
- Influence customer and team behaviour by inspiring, not manipulating. Price, promotion fear and novelty may drive a first purchase but they won’t create loyalty. Earn your customer’s trust by consistently communicating your company’s values.
- Only hire people who believe in your WHY, those who are passionate about why your business exists.
- As a leader, focus on the end goal, not the obstacles that stand in front of that goal.
- To be a great CEO, learn to speak last. We all know how important it is to listen to the team but how often do we make the mistake of leading the meeting, then asking for opinions. Great leaders listen to each individual in a meeting before it is their turn to speak.
- Customers will never love a company unless the employees love it first.
- Never keep your mobile phone in your hand when you’re speaking with staff. It doesn’t make you look more important, you just come across as a moron who doesn’t value human interaction. When you’re engaged in a conversation or a meeting, put your mobile phone away to show the individual you value what they have to say.
- If you tell people how to do their jobs, you get workers. If you trust people to get the job done, you get leaders.
Every company needs both of the following:
a WHY-type person – the optimist, the visionary who writes the Vision statement and inspires the team;
a HOW-type person – the rational, the results-driven individual who writes the Mission statement and gets things done.
