Why are some people and organizations more inventive, pioneering and successful than others? And why are they able to repeat their success again and again?

Because in business it doesn't matter what you do, it matters why you do it.

Steve Jobs, the Wright brothers and Martin Luther King have one thing in common: they STARTED WITH WHY.

This book is for anyone who wants to inspire others, or to be inspired.

Based on the most-watched TED Talk of all time.

'One of the most useful and powerful books I have read in years' William Ury, coauthor of Getting to Yes

'This book is so impactful, I consider it required reading' Tony Robbins, bestselling author of Awaken The Giant Within

Length: 240 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled	Audible Narration: Audible Narration Switch back and forth between reading the Kindle book and listening to the Audible narration. Add narration for a reduced price of $4.49 after you buy the Kindle book. Ready	Language: English

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"Start with Why is one of the most useful and powerful books I have read in years. Simple and elegant, it shows us how leaders should lead."
-WILLIAM URY, coauthor of Getting to Yes

"Start with Why fanned the flames inside me. This book can lead you to levels of excellence you never considered attainable."
-GENERAL CHUCK HORNER, air boss, Desert Storm

"Each story will force you to see things from an entirely different perspective. A perspective that is nothing short of the truth."
-MOKHTAR LAMANI, former ambassador, special envoy to Iraq --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

About the Author

SIMON SINEK, the bestselling author of LEADERS EAT LAST and TOGETHER IS BETTER, is an optimist who believes in a brighter future for humanity. He teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people and has presented his ideas around the world, from small startups to Fortune 50 corporations, from Hollywood to Congress to the Pentagon. His TED Talk based on START WITH WHY is the third most popular TED video of all time. Learn more about his work and how you can inspire those around you at StartWithWhy.com. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

File Size : 1770 KB
Print Length : 240 pages
Publisher : Penguin; 01 Edition (6 October 2011)
Word Wise : Enabled
Language: : English
Enhanced Typesetting : Enabled
ASIN : B005JZD3B4
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: 1,380 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)

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Alessandro Berardi

a good idea, but unpolished and underdeveloped

Reviewed in Australia on 23 November 2017

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I think the idea at the centre of the book is interesting and corroborated by neuroscientific knowledge about decision making. Unfortunately I also think that the book struggles to go beyond intuition and convert the idea into a fact based theory. The book could have conveyed the idea with less repetition and more effort into fact finding and checking. The lack of fact checking is also evident in the incorrectness of some examples and quotes. I think the idea points to a more complex reality than the one suggested. To summarise, a good idea, but unpolished and underdeveloped.

14 people found this helpful

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Main topics underdeveloped but okay read

Reviewed in Australia on 25 June 2019

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The book started off well, and raised some interesting questions, unfortunately that was where it stopped and it seemed like the author was getting lost in his ranting about various company behaviours and strategies. Would have been good if he had developed the ideas he started with a little more at the beginning. Indeed, it left me asking myself Why? Still have 2/3 of the book left but don’t think I’ll be reading any more because of the above.

3 people found this helpful

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Tony

Repetitious. Repetitious. Repetitious.

Reviewed in Australia on 24 June 2018

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Content in and of itself is find. Nothing particularly ground-breaking. Wasn't a fan of all the capitalisations of 'WHAT', 'WHY', and 'HOW' although it got the point across.

By the end of it I thought I was just reading the same thing over and over again so if I had the choice, I wouldn't have bought it and left after reading the sample.

6 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Poor Grammar, Repetitive

Reviewed in Australia on 29 March 2020

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I wish I had read the reviews before purchasing. It's a great concept, but the same examples are used to reiterate the same thing over and over again. Plus there's so many grammatical errors throughout the book it isn't even funny. I usually don't pick up a new book until I finish my last and that was not the case with this one. Watch the TED talk instead.

2 people found this helpful

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Adilson

I am giving one star because I can't give none

Reviewed in Australia on 6 August 2020

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This book a complete waste of time. The author keeps coming back to the same point, repeating himself ad nauseam and to be honest, it seems to me that while he wants to sell the WHY idea, his examples are so weak that the WHAT seems the only logical explanation for the companies that he used as an example. From the airline example to Apple and Disney's, he made a lot of rhetorical tricks to try to sustain his ideas. Don't waste your time and money on this one.

Audible has a better return policy than Kindle.

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RebeccaC

Seriously great book

Reviewed in Australia on 26 July 2018

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All time classic book, every person in business should read it. Understanding a company’s Why is fundamental to success. The book uses a lot of good examples to explain. Highly recommended.

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Stephen Merrett

Delivered the goods

Reviewed in Australia on 5 February 2019

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Very interesting from start to finish, clearly outlines what we each are looking for in business and life and invites us to open our minds to the possibilities

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Ashoka Gore

Simple yet profound

Reviewed in Australia on 13 December 2017

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We are all conditioned to focus on What, which drives competition and creates a sense of scarcity. If we started with Why, and focused on achieving our personal best every day, there would be a sense of abundance and collaboration.
How is all about competence, which is crucial and there are no short cuts.
A simple model, which if followed will deliver amazing results.

One person found this helpful

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Dave South UK

A lot of pages for which the message could be contained in five

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 November 2017

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I love Sinek's talks and although there is wisdom, points to take away and actions you can use in this book I did find that it was a lot of pages which can be condensed down into about five. I find the same thing with a lot of these books. Really, you can just watch the various YouTube videos to get the major points from this book and learnings. However, he does offer some interesting examples and working case studies. Like I said, it does contain a lot of unnecessary drool to get some simple points across and repetition of messages.

78 people found this helpful

Brilliant insights hidden in tedious repetition.

Reviewed in India on 9 September 2017

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Loved the TED talk. And loved parts of this book. The only problem is - this book would have taken up less than 100 pages to convey its message clearly. WHY did it have to be 225 pages? I have no idea. Some sentences like, "People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it" are repeated so many times, I have lost count. If someone were to wake me from my sleep, I'd probably be repeating that sentence.

I find it funny that a book about WHY missed out on mentioning something called, "The theory of 5 Whys"- Look it up, it is something a lot of companies use to brainstorm problems. It also has no comment on Friedrich Nietzsche - "He who has a WHY to live for can bear almost any HOW." I believe what applies to life also eventually applies to business life.

And as it is a business book, its only focus is on the importance of WHY in businesses and large scale social movements. There is no example of how this concept affects and benefits an individual on a more personal scale - i.e. in relationships, health, etc. Chapter 13 - where the author shares his own story of arriving at this concept is the only place where he has touched on it in a lukewarm manner. Though, I believe there is another book follow-up book called 'Find Your Why' for the same purpose. If you are looking for a personal WHY, do read Stephen Covey's - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Should you read the book, if you have watched the TED talk?
- Yes, if you are looking for more detailed examples and studies and researches. Though a lot of it is focused on Apple and Southwest Airlines and Walmart.
- No, if you already have a clear sense of WHY in everything you think, say and do. (i.e. self-awareness)

[I bought a paperback version by Portfolio Penguin, and the fonts, binding and print are all okay]

242 people found this helpful

Jose A

Not very realistic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 April 2018

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Although the book describes certainly positive approaches to leading any enterprise, in the line of having an intrinsic motivation, it fails by extracting them from a posteriori success stories. It is easy to fall in the fallacy that those who came to our days as successful leaders did it, overall, because of their personal traits or attitudes. The book even dismisses randomness or the complexities or real world events as the real cause of some of this success stories. But even figures like Bill Gates recognise how lucky they were with their life circumstances (e.g. having access to the first personal computers at school) in order to get where they were. But of course most people looking for success formulas won’t find so attractive a book that includes something out of their control as part of the education. But the truth is that being realistic is always the closets path to any kind of success. This book it isn’t.

46 people found this helpful

Sparkly Sal

Disappointing.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 January 2017

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The concept is valid, the examples are interesting but the book is so repetitive. There's enough content for a book one third of the size; the rest is padding. Watch the TED talk and you'll get the point.

55 people found this helpful

S. Ahrens

Viel heiße Luft

Reviewed in Germany on 15 January 2019

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Warum alle diese doch recht einfachen Gedankengang des "Why" so abfeiern, erschließ sich mir nicht. Der Gedankengang, dass Marken sich über andere Faktoren außer dem Preis und vermeintlicher Benefits abgrenzen müssen, ist allgemein klar und wird im Buch etwas zu ausführlich (eigentlich durchgehend) erklärt. Und ein "Why" kann dabei helfen. Seine Thesen stützt er – wie so viele andere Markentheoretiker – im wesentlichen auf den Erfolg von Apple. Wie viele Bücher schon den Erfolg von Apple analysiert haben und ihre eigene These dazu nützen, ist mittlerweile unüberschaubar. Aber nur weil Apple den Kunden ein "Why" bietet, sind sie nicht erfolgreich, das ist zu kurz gedacht und das sollte absolut jedem bekannt sein. Dann könnte ja jeder den einfach Erfolg kopieren.
Ärgerlich ist, dass der Inhalt des Buches auf 20 Seiten gepasst hätte und dass es keinerlei Anleitung gibt, wie der Leser, denn für sich selbst das Why/How/What definieren kann. Dafür muss man wohl einen überteuerten Workshop von Sinek buchen. Fazit: 20% interessante Gedanken, 80% aufgeblasene Zeitverschwendung.

43 people found this helpful

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