Simon Sinek TED Talk

How do you explain when things don't go as we assume? Or better, how do you explain when others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all assumptions? Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows what they do, 100 percent. Some know how they do it. But very few people or organizations know why they do what they do. Most companies can only come up with strategies based on what they produce, never why they exist. Why is Apple so innovative? Year after year, after year, they're more innovative than all their competition. And yet, they're just a computer company. They're just like everyone else. They have the same access to the same talent, the same agencies, the same consultants. People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe. The Wright Brothers were not the only ones working on powered man flight. Samuel Pierpont Langley had all the resources. But the Wright Brothers went against all conventional wisdom and managed to pull off what no well-funded competitor could. In spite of having far fewer resources, they succeeded because they were inspired by a vision of what flight could mean for the world. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the "I Have a Dream" speech, not the "I Have a Plan" speech. He made a case for equality so powerfully and so clearly that people felt drawn to his cause from across the country. There are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or authority. But those who lead inspire us. We follow them not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead not for them, but for ourselves—to figure out who we are and what we believe. And it's those who start with 'why' that have the ability to inspire those around them.