It’s Not About Solutions… It Is About Asking Better Questions!

What do great companies, great leaders, great people have that makes them so pronounced? What if it’s Not: “What they have?” But instead the better question is “Why they do what they do?”

Simon Sinek did an inspiring Ted Talk titled “How great leaders inspire action” and it hit home for me on so many levels. For quite a while now, many of us have been walking around answering the tired old question of “What do you do?” with an response that not only is often the rouser of our performance anxious egotistic version of self, but also the inquiry is often met with a disheartened reaction of “Oh, that’s nice” or something like that!

Did you know that networking events are eking their way up the list of phobias? Social phobias are now #8 and after watching Simon explain the human brain, I realize that no longer needs to be the case.

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it!”

Inside out – Reverse the order of it:

Most of us start with What we do, then How we do it and if the conversation is going well and you have somehow been able to hold the person’s interest to this point, they may ask you why you do what you do. The problem with this is that the part of the brain that controls decision making doesn’t control language. Simplistically put, (and Simon does a much better job of presenting this, so do watch his video…) what that means is, if you are hoping to sell yourself to someone and you start with what and how, you are talking to the part of the brain that is there to process data and not make decisions, so you are spinning your wheels.

Decision making happens in the part of the brain that is associated with feelings, which means, a better way of structuring your response would be:

Start from the inside out – Reverse the order of it. Why, how and then what. Communicating from the inside out drives behavior.

“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”.

It seems to me that many of the problems we deal with on a regular basis with all different facets of our businesses could all just fade away when you begin building co-creative relationships with people who believe in why you are doing and will gladly help your cause because they feel a connection to it and a sense of commitment to your cause.

“There are leaders and there are those that lead. Leaders hold a position of power or authority. Those who lead, inspire us! 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.”

If you don’t know ‘Why’ you do what you do and believe in what you do, how can anyone else believe in it? And the ‘Why’ has to be about your purpose, your vision and how your idea will make a difference to others like you, not about making money, because that’s a result.

Brilliant concept Simon! Thank you!

Watch Simon’s Ted Talk and be inspired so that next time you want to motivate people, you make an “I Have a Dream” speech rather than the “I Have a Plan” speech!