Start with WHY - Simon Sinek In Vegas

ladies and gentlemen please welcome mr. simon Sinek I can say it's a privilege to be here and I don't say that wherever I go and the reason is simple is because this notion of family and the notion of belonging is very personal for me is as much for you I get invited to speak to a lot of remarkable and fascinating audiences who are doing remarkable things but they do what they do and I do what I do and so it's particularly special for me to talk to an audience where I'm one of you and you're one of me I feel at home here and I can't tell you how wonderful everybody has been as I've been walking around so thank you this one's very special for me the concept of entrepreneurship is also interesting to me I think there's a lot of people who like to say I'm an entrepreneur but most don't really know what it means an entrepreneur sees what they want and they set out to get it an entrepreneur sees the things that prevent them from getting what they want and that's the difference that's the difference at the end of the day an entrepreneur is a problem solver they are not turned off by long lines they are not turned off by things that will get in a way they are not turned off by things that will make things difficult they see what they want and they find a way to get it they don't do it in a way that hurts anybody they don't do it in a way that denies anybody else their desire to get what they want they don't judge others for doing it the other way they might make them uncomfortable but they don't judge them but they get what they want but first they have to know what they want and the question is what do you want you want to build a business you need employees if you have employees you have people going to help your business think about it at the end of the day you're asking them to help build your dream you're asking them to come on board and help you get what you want even if they're not employees they're just friends support is why should they help you this is what it means to be a leader so let's define a leader what is a leader a leader is just that it's one who leads but a leader to be a leader must have followers you're not a leader unless there are those who volunteer to follow you you cannot force someone to follow you they have to choose to follow you whether they're customers or employees friends investors supporters they choose they volunteer to help you get what you want why should they why should they bother what leaders do is they inspire people to be a part of what they're doing they inspire people to follow in the direction that they are going at the end of the day there are only two ways to influence human behavior you can either manipulate it or you can inspire it those are your options we all know how manipulation works in manipulation in business right you drop your price low enough people will do business with you this is the concept behind a sale things are price to move it works it's manipulative promotions two for one free toy inside or if you're in the b2b space we call it Value Added same idea it's a promotion it's giving stuff away for free to reduce someone's risk so they'll choose you over the competition we see manipulation a lot in marketing fear wonderful manipulator any parents in the audience you know exactly what I'm talking about fear is a wonderful manipulator can get people do all kinds of things we're often told you have to be aspirational yes it's good to be positive but it's still a manipulation I like to joke that you can get people to join the gym with an aspirational message but to get them to go three days a week that requires a little bit of inspiration or what a lot of organizations like to call innovation it's really novelty right because real innovation changes the course of industries of not society the fax machine the microwave the light bulb iTunes that's real innovation adding a camera to your cell phone wonderful feature not an innovation it is stressful to be a consumer these days it is stressful to try to decide what to buy when you are bombarded day after day with manipulation from all kinds of organizations which TV should I buy which cell phone company should I go with with which IT solution should I get from my office it's called stress stressful to be a seller as well however in the face of bombardment of manipulation and manipulation manipulation and that that's that's the marketplace how do you get your message to stand out how do you get your message heard why should anyone listen to you this is the world we live in today it's called stress again I cannot dispute that every one of those manipulations work they do that's why companies use them the problem is none of them breed loyalty there's an alternative it's called inspiration and there are a few leaders and a few organizations that rely vastly more in inspiration the manipulation I'll talk about some of the big ones we know who they are Apple computers Southwest Airlines Harley Davidson virgin every single one of these organizations these leaders those with the ability to inspire they have the most loyal employees they have the most loyal customers they can charge a premium if they want to they're more profitable they're more innovative my definition and most importantly they can sustain all these things for the long term what I discovered is that regardless of their size and regardless of their industry every single one of these organizations with a capacity to inspire they all think act and communicate the exact same way and it's the complete opposite to everyone else all I did was write it down and it's probably the world's simplest idea I call it the Golden Circle imagine if you will three concentric circles a bull's eye in the middle is the word Y in the center ring is the word how and the outside ring is the word what it's this little idea that distinguishes those with a capacity to inspire versus everyone else let me define the terms really quickly starting from the outside in every single organization on the planet knows what they do these are the products you sell or the services you offer some know how they do it whether you call it your differentiating value proposition or your USP or your proprietary process it's the things that you think make you special or different or better than your competition but very very few people in very very few organizations can clearly state why they do what they do and by why I don't mean to make money that's a result by why I mean what's your purpose what's your cause what's your belief why does your company exist why did you go out of bed this morning and why should anyone care as a result the way we think the way we act the way we communicate is from the outside and it's obvious we go from the clearest thing to the fuzziest thing we tell people what we do we tell them how we're different or how we're better and we expect some sort of behavior a purchase a vote support but not the inspired leaders not the inspired organizations regardless of their size regardless of their industry every single one of them thinks acts and communicates from the inside out they all start with why let me give you an example I use Apple a lot because they're easy to understand and we all get it if Apple were like everyone else piece of marketing from them for example would sound like this they would say what they do we make great computers how do they do it they're beautifully designed simple to use and user friendly want to buy one that's normal and that's how most organizations talk to us here's our new car it's got tinted windows get great gas mileage leather seats choose us here's our law firm our lawyers went to all the best schools we want to love our cases choose us but not the inspired leaders not Apple they start with why here's how they actually communicate everything we do they say we believe in challenging the status quo we believe in thinking differently the way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed simple to use and user friendly we just happen to make great computers wanna buy one totally different totally different no trickery no manipulations no celebrity endorsements all I did was reverse the order of the information what it starts to show us is that it's not what you do that matters it's why you do it people don't buy what you do they buy why you do it and what you do simply serves as the tangible proof of what you believe this is the reason why every single person in this room is perfectly comfortable buying a computer from Apple we're perfectly comfortable with the idea that Apple makes mp3 players and phones and DVRs newsflash Apple is just a company that's all they are it's a corporate structure they have some good products and some bad ones all of their competitors have equal and open access to the same resources the same agencies the same consultants the same media the same talent it is a zero-sum game every single one of their competitors is equally qualified to make every product that Apple makes and yet how is it that this one company has an unbalanced amount of influence an unbalanced ability to innovate an unbalanced amount of profitability an unbalanced amount of loyalty amongst their customers and their employees the difference is they haven't defined themselves by what they do they've defined themselves by why they do it and what they do simply serves the tangible proof of what they believe Dell is a good company makes good products and as every little bit qualified to make every product that Apple makes a few years ago that came out with PDAs and mp3 players and nobody bought one why would we buy an mp3 player from a computer company it doesn't make sense but we do it every day the difference is Dell has defined themselves by what they do and Apple has defined themselves by why they exist for this little idea to work you have to have three things one you have to know why you do what you do if you don't know why you do what you do how will anyone else - you have to have discipline of how you have to hold yourself and your people accountable to your values and your guiding principles and thirdly you have to have consistency of what everything you say and everything you do everything must prove what you believe at the end of the day why is just a belief that's all it is house are the actions we take to realize that belief and what's are the results of those actions the things we say the things we do our products and services and marketing etc and if what you say and what you do doesn't show what you believe that no one will know what you believe this is the concept behind authenticity I'm tired and bored of people standing on stages telling us all we have to be authentic how do you implement authenticity if you would when you go back to your office a little more authenticity in everything you do appreciate it thanks no clue what authenticity means is that the things you say and the things you do you actually believe this is caveman stuff the reason the human race is so successful is not because we're the strongest it's not even because with a smartest it's because we're social animals it's because we have the ability to form cultures and communities what's a culture what's a community it's a group of people with a common set of values and beliefs what's a company it's a group of people with a common set of values and beliefs our need to be amongst people who believe what I believe what we believe is essential our survival depends on it we cannot survive on Arps by ourselves out in the wilderness it is our communities that protect us and look after us and are the reason the human race succeeds when you are surrounded by people who believe what you believe something remarkable happens Trust emerges make no mistake of it trust is a feeling it is a human experience simply doing everything you promised your going to do does not mean people will trust you just means you're responsible we all have friends were total screw-ups and yet we still trust them trust as a feeling and it comes from that common set of values and beliefs and when you are surrounded by people who trust you and you trust them you're more likely to take a risk you're more likely to explore you're more likely to innovate you're more likely to leave the cave to go hunting saber-toothed Tigers with the confidence that those in your community will look after your stuff and protect your children while you're gone your survival depends on your ability to form trust and Trust can only be formed when you're surrounded by people who believe what you believe and you can only be surrounded by people who believe what you believe if you know why you do what you do how many of you either love your Macintosh computer or know somebody who loves their Macintosh computer ok good bunch of you you can always tell people who love their Macs because when you try and convince them that they actually bought substandard computers they start foaming at the mouth rationally speaking apples are substandard they are there at least 25% more expensive sometimes double the price of their PC counterparts there's less software there's fewer peripherals and I know because I switched to a Mac they are absolutely slower than PCs substandard and yet people who buy them don't even compare to the competition they don't do market research and try and figure out which is the best computer they've decided they're only going to get a Mac and they buy them over and over and over again and there are young kids living on cup of noodles because they can't afford anything more and yet it's totally ok to spend $2,000 on a laptop this doesn't make sense there's something deeper there's something deeper happening here Apple stands for something the people who are drawn to Apple the people who believe in the same things that Apple believes do so not because the computers rationally better it's because it becomes a symbol one of the things that they do that reflects their own beliefs every decision we make in our lives as individuals or organizations is a piece of communication it tells the outside world something about who we are it's the way we get the word out there are people who walk around with harley-davidson logos on their bodies it's a corporate logo some of them don't even own the product but it's no longer a logo because Harley is so clear and why they do what they do and what they believe and they're so disciplined and how they do it and they're so consistent in what they do what ends up happening is everything they say and everything they do their products their logos become symbols symbols of a set of values and beliefs and the person who puts that Harley logo there it's nothing to do with the motorcycle they're telling you something about who they are this is the reason why people with Apple laptops love opening their laptops on airports they want everybody to see and you'll never see somebody with an Apple laptop put a big tiger print sticker over the top of their computer it'll never happen take a PC we don't care what computer you're using and you put stickers all over it make it pretty never it's a piece of communication the clearer you are about what you believe the more disciplined you are about how you do things in the more consistent you are and what you do everything you say and everything you do then becomes a symbol for that set of values and beliefs it's biology it's biology if you look at a cross-section of the human brain looking from the top down the human brain evolved into three major areas that corresponds with this little idea the outside area the what level is our newest brain our homo sapien brain called our neocortex the neocortex is responsible for all of our rational an analytical thought and language the middle two sections wine how make up our limbic brains our limbic brains are responsible for all of our feelings like trust and loyalty it's also responsible for all human behavior all decision-making and it has no capacity for language in other words you can't ask your customers why do you do business with us they can't tell you the part of the brain that controls behavior does not control language and so we rationalize price service quality features right but if you invest all your money in price service quality features how come you don't win all the customers and how come sometimes when you're not the best price service quality features you still have loyal customers there's something deeper going on this is the reason when you ask those people who love their max why do you love your Mac they can't tell you what you see I'm the kind of person who likes to challenge the status quo and so it's very important for me to surround myself with the people and the products and the brands that prove to the outside world who I believe I am biologically that's what happened but it happened in the part of the brain that controls feelings but not language the part of the brain that controls decision-making and so they rationalize it's the user interface it's the simplicity it's the design I'm a creative person whatever that means it's the same for us it's the same for in other circumstances why do you love your husband why do you love your wife that's a difficult question why do you love your wife I don't know that's usually where most people start right and then they start rationalizing she's fun um she's always been there for me um I can count on her it sounds like a Golden Retriever and those aren't necessarily the conditions for marriage my sister says of my brother-in-law I love this supposed to be a compliment my sister's isn't my brother-in-law I never imagined I'd marry a guy like him what she's saying is when I was younger and I made a checklist of all the things that I wanted my future husband what what what what he has none of them but I love him and I want to have children with him and I want to spend the rest of my life with him it's not rational we just think it's rational and again the part of the brain that controls behavior and decision-making and feelings doesn't control language this is where gut decisions come from this is why we say I don't know just felt right why do we use the verb to feel to describe a decision it's because the part of the brain that controls feelings controls decision-making that's why there is no part of your stomach that controls decision-making and it didn't happen in your blood and it's not in your bones and you're not following your heart we ascribe it to all different parts of the body because we can't find the words it just feels right and we all know that those are higher quality decisions anyway when all you can give her the facts and figures as to why you should or shouldn't do in some do something the highest level of confidence you can give is I think this is the right decision that would be biologically accurate but we all know they were cut there were decisions we make in our lives that I know the facts and figures say that we should do that just doesn't feel right though and you ask the most successful entrepreneurs in the world what's your secret they all say the same thing trusted my gut trusted my gut and when things didn't go well I knew I should have trusted my gut problem is it's not scalable not scalable we all have the innate ability to find people who believe what we believe our survival depends on it we are human animals we know how to do this if I ask you to go out in the street and find all the people who believe what you believe you know exactly what to do you're going to go up to somebody and you're going to strike up a conversation maybe have good chemistry right maybe you have to talk them a little longer you'll get a feeling for the minute I'll either be right or wrong right it's called dating it's called making friends it's called interviewing we know how to do this we know how to do this it's not scalable but if I ask you to go out on the street and find all the people wearing red hats easy there's one there's one there's one there's one there's one instantaneously you can find the people who believe what you believe because they're putting out symbols of their own beliefs you people who love your Apple computers don't lie to me I know when you're walking through the airport you see some sixteen year old sitting on the floor you know on her Mac laptop you walk past you go hey why'd you do that leave her alone some stranger just said hi to me tweet it's because when you see that symbol that Apple that glowing Apple you're like ah how many of you are from the Las Vegas area anybody a couple of you okay are you friends with everybody from Las Vegas why not but when you go to Texas and somebody says I'm from Las Vegas you're like hey hey I'm from Las Vegas and you're best friends and when you were in France on your vacation and you happen to hear an American accent and you go hey away from we're from Texas we're from Las Vegas and you're best friends and the reason is is because the most basic human desire on the planet is to feel like we belong our survival depends on it and when we are in an environment where we know we don't belong we seek out anyone who may have some of the same values and beliefs that we have so we can form trust we can rely on each other watch each other's backs simply because we share the same values and beliefs and as you get closer and closer and closer you want to find those people who believe what you believe knowing what you believe means that you can look for the symbols that Apple logo says something that harley-davidson logo says something and you're either drawn to it or repelled by it this is good leadership is when you have the ability to stand on a street corner and put on your own red hat and simply stand there and go I got a red hat I got a red hat I got a red hat and all the other people walking past even though they can't see their own red hats even though they don't know their why they're eerily drawn to you they're early drawn to you there's an inextricable link between leadership and communication those who lead are the ones who can clearly communicate what they believe and those who can clearly communicate what they believe are the ones who lead and the reason is simple is because when you talk about what you believe and you put your beliefs and your values and clear words or symbols consistent enough authentic enough that I know that everything you say and do represents what you believe I will be drawn to you for myself for my own survival doing business with you working for you being your friend says something about Who I am the goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have the goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe people who believe what you believe will work for you with blood and sweat and tears people who don't believe what you believe work for your money the same is true for customers those who believe what you believe will go out of their way to do business with you those who don't believe what you believe just want a cheaper there's a huge difference between repeat business and loyalty repeat business means I'm willing to do business with you over and over and over again loyalty means I'm willing to turn down a better product at a better price maybe even suffer inconvenience to continue to do business with you the ones who you just happen to meet some price standard you happen to meet some of rational objectives that they're looking for they'll do business with you anyway if you happen to meet them why would you ever focus on trying to appease them they come and go it's the loyal ones the people who believe what you believe the ones who stick would use the thick and thin because doing business with you says more about them than it does about you those are the ones that matter most and the reason is simple it's because of something called the law of diffusion of innovations the bell curve if you don't know the law of diffusion you definitely know the terminology if you look at the Bell when it says the first two-and-a-half percent of our population are our innovators the next thirteen and a half percent of our population are our early adopters the next thirty four percent our early majority the next thirty four percent are a late majority and the last 16 percent at the end of the bill are our laggards the only reason the laggards by touch-tone phones is because you can't buy rotary phones anymore we all fit at various times for various reasons across the scale what the law of diffusion tells us is that early adopter and innovator population the left side of the bell right the early adopter and innovator side of the population they're very comfortable trusting their guts they're very comfortable making intuitive decisions and they're willing to pay premiums and suffer inconvenience to be a part of something that reflects their beliefs these the people that bought that stood in line for six hours to buy iPhones when they first came out even though you could just walk into the store the following week and just buy one off the shelf these the people who spent 40 or 50 thousand dollars on flat-screen TVs when they first came out even though the technology was substandard it had nothing to do with the technology it had to do with them they wanted to be first people who bought iPhone fours why could they just keep their phone in their pocket when the phone rings onto the phone when they're off the phone put it away no I got one did you get one you didn't get one I got one they have to show you the reason they have to show you is because they're telling you something about who they are and other people who got one first and they're like oh you got one - me - look isn't it cool look you both have one why'd you have to compare it's because that common set of values and beliefs you found somebody like you this is good this is good right that's that early adopter and innovator population they're willing to pay a premium or suffer inconvenience to be a part of something that reflects their beliefs now the rest of the world the majority is absolutely more cynical and more practical absolutely they absolutely care more about things like price and quality and service and features absolutely the problem is according to the law of diffusion you cannot have mass market success or mass market acceptance for an idea until you've achieved 15 to 18 percent market penetration that is the tipping point and the reason is is because the early majority that first 34 percent will not try something until someone else has tried it first this is the reason we have to drop our price and offer promotions and offer value added because we have to reduce their risk to do business with us the innovator in the early adopters we pay premiums and suffer inconvenience do business with you the goal is to get to that tipping point it's easy law of averages so you says you can get 10% I promise you right now you have 10% who are loyal how do we describe them they just get it don't know what that means get what what's it oh you know that those other guys that guy he doesn't get it that's how we describe them it's like gut feelings get what how do you find the people who get it before you do business with them how do you identify the it's how do you find the people wearing the red hats before you waste all your time and energy you talk about what you believe I'll talk give you two examples a famous failure and a famous success first the famous failure TiVo if you ask most companies why did your product fail or why did your company fail they usually give you some combination of the same few reasons right undercapitalized didn't have enough money that's a big one bad market conditions we have the wrong people poorly executed that pretty much explains every failure there is some combination of those those factors which means if you have all of those that means you should be instantaneously sex successful right okay so TiVo TiVo was introduced into marketplace about nine or ten years ago from the date was introduced to this current day it is the single best quality product on the market hands-down undisputed is technology's way beyond any other DVR system the best execution flawless venture-capital up the wazoo money no problem brilliant engineers on board had good people market conditions remarkable the unaided awareness of TiVo's through the roof we have t-bo's a verb I TiVo stuff on my piece of junk cable DVR right and if you want to throw in first mover's advantage throw that into because they had that as well TiVo is a commercial and financial failure they've never made money and when their stock went public it launched about 40 or 50 dollars very quickly plummeted and except for a couple little blips has never traded above $10 TiVo is a commercial and financial failure and the reason is because when they launched this brilliant product they attempted to tell the mass the but the majority what their product does they said to the majority we have a product that pauses live TV skips commercials memorizes your viewing habits and records on your behalf without you even asking and the cynical practical majority said I don't need it I don't like it I don't believe you you're scaring me is it in my one a few did few early adopters did 10% you know to this day they love their TiVo's but it was enough to make the system tip you see now imagine if TiVo had told that left side that there's early adopters and those innovators that they had just talked about why the product even exists imagine any they have said if you're the kind of person who likes to have total control over every aspect of your life boy do we have a product for you it pauses live TV it skips commercials it memorizes your viewing habits and records on your behalf without you even asking in this instance what the product does serves as the tangible proof of why it exists it is not the reason you use to convince people to do business with you in the first place people don't buy what you do they buy why you do it and what you do serves as the tangible proof of what you believe your company is one of the things that you're doing in your life that proves who you are the more you talk about what you believe the more you talk about what you actually believe the more likely you are to attract people who believe what you believe and they will help you because they want to because they trust you here's another example my favorite one in the summer of 1963 250,000 people showed up on the mall in Washington to hear dr. King give his famous I have a dream speech there were no invitations sent out there's no website to check the date how do you do that how many emails did you get just to show up here today I got7 dr. King was not the only man in America who knew what had to change to bring about civil rights in this country dr. King didn't have all great ideas some of his ideas were bad he was not the only man who suffered in a pre-civil Rights America in fact he suffered a little less than some because he was off at university and he wasn't the perfect man he had his complexities but we just don't talk about those things the difference is dr. King didn't go around telling people what we need to do what we need to do what we need to do he went around told people I believe I believe I believe and people who believe what he believed took his cause and they made it their own and they told people what they believed and those people who believe what they believe they took that same cause and they made it their own and they told people they believed and some built structures to get the word out more efficiently and lo and behold on the right day on the right time a quarter of a million people showed up to hear him speak how many of them showed up for him zero they showed up for themselves it's what they believed about this country it's the country that they wanted to live in it's the country that they wanted to raise their children and that inspired them to get on a bus travel to a towers and stand in the Sun in the middle of Washington simply to hear dr. King speak simply coming to the rally was one of the things they did in their lives to prove what they believed by the way he gave the I have a dream speech not the I have a planned speech it's not what you do that matters it's why you do it you cannot change the world to build it build a multi-million dollar a multi-billion dollar business by yourself unscalable remember you and your gut you can do very well not scalable the only way to really grow is to find those who believe what you believe in are willing to work with you with blood and sweat and tears to help you get there do you know the story of the two Stone layers these two stone layers right you go to the first one and say how do you like your job he says yeah I mean I like my job I've been working on this wall for as long as I can remember the stones are heavy the work is back-breaking it's monotonous I stand in the scorching hot Sun all day and I don't even know if I'm gonna finish this wall in my lifetime it's a job that pays the bills you go up to the second guy and say how do you like your job he says I love my job I'm building a cathedral sure I've been building this wall for as long as I can remember sure the stones are heavy and the work is back-breaking and I stand on the scorching hot Sun all day and it's monotonous and I don't even know if I'm going to finish this wall in my lifetime but I'm building a cathedral what they do is exactly the same this guy might even be a champion stone layer the only difference is that only one of them knows why he shows up to work every day and the guy who knows why does not see himself as any more or less important than the architect or the guy doing the stained-glass windows a landscaper they are all contributing to building something that they believe in that's bigger than themselves a leader is somebody who can put into words that which does not exist yet the leader is the one who stands there and says in beautiful crystal clear words and he describes that Cathedral that hasn't been built in words so clear that others can take that image and they can pass it on to others why are you working so hard because I believe in it we're building a cathedral what Cathedral let me tell you are you describing your Cathedral you're just telling people the wall at your building the reason everybody showed up here is because together we're going to build a cathedral we are all contributing to a world that we would rather live in it's the leaders of this organization that are describing that world a world in which we are in control of our own lives a world in which we live the life that we believe we deserve shouldn't we all get that it's the reason I showed up here here's a statistic for you over 90 percent of people go home feeling unfulfilled by their work that's a real statistic 90 percent don't feel fulfilled when they go home at the end of the day I want to live in a world in which the vast majority of people love what they do I want to live in a world in which the vast majority of people do business with companies that they trust and love they work with people that they trust and love and they go home happier because of it people who go to work and love what they do come home happier people and happier people treat their spouses better and they treat their kids better and they go back to work happy the next day and they treat their colleagues better and they treat their customers better and those people go home happier and they treat their kids better and their spouses better it's called world peace and it happens because of the likes of all of us this is called scale this is called scale there are leaders and there are those who lead leaders hold a position of power or influence but those who lead inspire us and whether they're individuals or organizations we follow those who lead not because we have to but because we want to we follow those who lead not for them but for ourselves this is for people who want to inspire those around them or who want to find somebody to inspire them I can say without a doubt you inspire me thank you very much thank you you

Channel: IDLife NYC

Views: 535,514

Rating: 4.8512111 out of 5

Keywords: Simon Sinek (Author), Leadership (Quotation Subject), simon sinek vegas, start with why ted talk, start with why, simon sinek quotes

Id: MNSAolUgFYQ

Length: 39min 1sec (2341 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 07 2015