I was struck by Simon Sinek’s TED video on How Great Leaders Inspire Action. (Those of you who are not familiar with the TED videos should stop reading right now and click through to www.TED.com and get familiar with them. Many of them are truly astounding.)
One of Simon’s core concepts is that people don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it. He describes a golden circle with “why” in the middle, “how” in the next ring, and “what” in the last ring. He says most of us communicate what we do and how we do it first, getting into the why only if pushed. He thinks the why is more compelling and we should start there.
He’s right. No one follows a leader because of the leader. They follow the leader because they want to go where the leader is going – they have a shared purpose, the why. The why is the inspiration.
Here’s why PrimeGenesis does what it does:
Hot landings by senior leaders are pivotal events during which our team, tools and perspective can make high leverage, high impact, high value contributions helping new leaders and their teams deliver Better Results Faster.
The core of this is the contribution we make to a leader and his or her team at a pivotal moment. There is a real need that we are uniquely capable of fulfilling. For us, the impact we make is meaningful in that we’re doing good for others and rewarding in that we’ve turned it into a real business in which our top 10 clients have used us 120 times. That’s why we do what we do.
Think through why you do what you do. You may find a great source of inspiration for others that you want to follow you.
George Bradt – PrimeGenesis Executive Onboarding and Transition Acceleration – Helping new leaders and their teams deliver Better Results Faster.
