With his 2009 TED talk (43 million views) and his 2011 book, Start With Why, Simon Sinek has helped to change the way people think about business, encouraging them to put some kind of higher purpose at the centre of it.
Part of the beauty and success of putting “why” at the start is its simplicity. So I’m not about to suggest another level be added. But there is important context and consideration that has to come before anyone, or any organisation, articulates their “why”. And that is “who”.
“Who” is a bit like a backstory. Part of developing a film script is writing its characters’ backstories, even though they seldom make it into the actual film. A backstory may answer questions like: Where did this character come from? What made her who she is? What are her beliefs about the world, and what does she see as her place in it? What does she want to achieve? How does she want to be?
These are questions an organisation and its founders should ask and answer very early on. What drove us to come together? What are the beliefs and values that unite us? What’s our moral compass? How do we see the world, and our role in it? What do we want to do, and wow do we want to do it? These are fundamental questions of character, and the answers to them express who we are.
I recently went to a high school open day at which the faculty explained the inner and educational journey that its students take. Each year’s curriculum is built around a central question…
In grade 8: Where am I?
In grade 9: What am I?
In grade 10: How am I?
In grade 11: Why am I?
In grade 12: Who am I?
It makes sense that adolescents should answer the questions in that order, as they get older and progressively mature. As adults, though, we’re probably better served being more concerned with the who and less so with the where.
But those high school stages also mirror the priorities and preoccupations of many businesses, which spend a lot of time looking at where they are: are we number one or two? What’s our market share? Are we meeting our targets? Some spend time considering what they are and what they do, and whether they should adapt or evolve to meet changing market conditions. Only a few may stay deliberately and constantly mindful of how they are – their ways of working, their ethics, their beliefs. And a small minority may pay attention to why they are. Hardly any, in my experience, stop to consciously remind themselves who they are.
Just as Simon Sinek urged businesses to flip their conventional thinking – to start with why and end with what – so too could they flip their energy and priorities in the context of those high school stages. If businesses start off asking questions around who they are, they will arrive more easily and obviously at their why, and be more constantly mindful of it. They’ll be very clear about how they want to be in the world and how they want to do business. They’ll be steadfast about what they do because it will always be a natural extension and expression of who they are and why they’re in business. And, as many successful, purpose-driven companies have shown, their attention wouldn’t need to be focussed so much on where they are in relation to their competition.
Start with who, and the rest will follow.