About the book 

Simon Sinek has a non-typical way of writing. His approach is more like a pamphlet. Mr. Sinek knows the answer and can put his finger on it. Easy to read, light in academic perspective and spot on.

How was the actual reading of the book? 

Simon Sinek has a theory about leadership and he gives great credit to it. It’s not entirely unique, but he has his approach. He repeatedly underlines his ideas and has different cases to proof it. 

His main theme is that everything starts with asking the question why. After that you can move on to asking how and last, but not least is the question what. 

If the why questions is missing then the how and what does not have a lasting foundation to build up on. He uses fairly lot Steve Jobs and Bill Gates as examples. They had a vision and they had a partner who knew how to build business based on it. Bill and Steve have been a lot in different leadership literature and somehow they don’t differentiate as examples in Sinek’s book. 

But he has also great examples such as railroads. If they would have in the late 1800s defined themselves as transport companies – and not railroad companies, they might still exist as one of the biggest companies as they were. 

What are the key learnings of the book? 

Key learnings can be categorized into two major findings: 

Inspiration comes from within

• No one can build inspiration for us. If we are inspired by a vision or a mission, we have fairly good probabilities to succeed.
• Inspirational people are those we are willing to follow. 

Team should consist different types of people

• You should have the why-people who have the vision.
• You should have the how-people who know how to do it.
• And you should have the what-people who know what to do.

How should we change according to the book? 

Sineks’s main ideas about leadership could be summarized in to three topics:

• Good fits. Great leaders recruit good fits – hire for attitude and inspire recruits as did Ernest Shackleton.
• Where ideas happen. Leaders role is to create an environment where ideas can happen.
• Trust. Organizations should trust their people to solve problems. “There is nothing you can’t do that I can’t fix” said General Lori Robinson. 

And a bonus. We should trust our “gut decisions”. Sinek believes that our first instinct is the best way to navigate forward. In that sense Sinek’s ideas reminds me of Mischel’s book about the Marshmallow Test.

What should I personally do?   

Act like Herb Kelleher from Southwest. He knew that “happy employees ensure happy customers”.

Summary 

The book in six words: Employees before customers & customers before shareholders.