directions and direction

Simon Sinek‘s TED talk, “Start With Why” is an utterly wonderful talk, all to do with motivating and aligning your team.

The premise is simple: if you can make “Why” people are doing something seem meaningful, they’re more likely to do that something a lot better.

If you believe in the “Why”, the rest is easy.

The trouble arises when your “Why” leaves people a little flat. “To make money” or “to increase shareholder value” isn’t enough to motivate people to world class.

And like the drawing implies, the “Why” is just a general, big-picture thing. It’s not a step-by-step instruction manual. The leader sets the “Why”, but it is up to the team to figure out the “How”.

i.e: She can tell us why we’re going to war, but it’s still up to us to fire our own guns.