wiki:Management/StartWithWhy

Version 2 (modified by Vijay Varadan, 7 years ago) (diff)

Added verdict icon.

Start with Why

Author: Simon Sinek
Jan 29 2017 start-with-why.jpg

Verdict: red-down-arrow.png Avoid

What should've been a 5 page essay is a 250 page book with lots of redundant information generously smeared with Apple fanboy-ism. You might want to watch his TED Talk instead - you'll waste considerably less time.

The Good (sort of): Watch the 18 Min TED Talk instead.

  • Focus on 1 point: Successful companies are clear about their core purpose (other than making money); the ones that aren't or deviate from / lose sight of this core purpose fail / die.

The Bad

  • Is it a Circle, Bullhorn or Cone? Why is it "Golden"?
  • The contradictions: Apple's success comes from innovation, but TiVo which also innovated failed because <vague reasons>.
  • States the obvious: a company needs to have a mission which derives from the vision of its leaders - in his examples, he talks about only 1 leader per company, which is not how most of us have experienced it in the real world.

The Ugly

  • I can't get back the 5 hours I spent on this.
  • Apple worship.
  • Reaching quite a bit to draw parallels between Golden { Circle / Bullhorn / Cone } to well-known Golden Ratio - sorry, they are no similarities.
  • Playing amateur neuro-scientist linking Golden { Circle / Bullhorn / Cone } parts to human brain function - falls flat on its face.