Start With The Why Reflection Paper

Start With the Why Reflection Paper

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To be in a position of influencing and inspiring people around, you must possess various skills and abilities that make you a good leader. One of the challenges a person can face in leadership is being strong while not being rude, being bold but not being a bully, being thoughtful and not being lazy and being proud and not being arrogant. Directing an entire group of people towards a core objective is not an easy thing and without proper communication skills as well as a clear vision, a leader will end up feeling like he/she is herding cats. For a leader to be deemed effective, he/she must be in a position of building firm relationships between various parties and must be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the team.

In our current world, there are extremely few leaders, enterprises and products that are able to create movements, inspire loyalty as well as motivate their followers as well as employees to always be there through thick and thin. Despite all these leaders such as Martin Luther King and firms such as apple and Southwest airlines have been able to beat all odds and become successful by acquiring loyal clients and starting movements. A question thus arises, what separates these leaders from the rest? In his novel, “Start with Why”, Simon Sinek argues that what separates these firms, leaders as well as products from the rest is the start with why.

Simon continues to argue that people around the globe currently don’t buy what other people do but rather purchase why they do it. To fully explain this notion, Simon offers a useful framework to his thought to leadership, known as the golden circle. In this framework, Simon argues that what is encompasses the center of the golden circle is always why. The next step is how and the final step is WHAT. Sinek argues that every leader, as well as firms, must know the WHATs which entails their competitors and products. Some firms are aware of HOW they do the WHAT through their values and differentiators. However, very few organizations are able to articulate their WHY by understanding their purpose and belief. At all times, the WHY is always the reason for everything and why anyone ought to care.

I concur with Sinek's perception that great leaders create an environment that provides safety for their employees (Sinek). He explains how difficult it is to build trust in a working environment. It is true to say that employees who do not trust their leaders spend much time fighting amongst themselves or even fighting with the leaders. Leaders in the business field are just like parents, and they need to challenge their employees to take risks and build confidence. Leaders need to take risks and sacrifice for the safety of employees. The employees would, therefore, trust and sacrifice to attain the vision of the leaders (Sinek). Trusting each other also promotes safety. Safety ensures that external threats are dealt with and customer services improved.

I think that Simon’s claim that there is more to work than just money is a correct argument. Organizations can create something else apart from just money offered to employees. Organizations can give individuals a chance to use their talents and skills in a manner that will give them motivation in their tasks. A good organization should additionally be based on some values (Sinek). An organization should have some core values that are shared among the employees, and they would work together to offer the organization a leading benefit. Organizations that realize that its people and team are not values-led need to come up with values and come up with encouraging ways that will make the employees abide by the values. This could be by enforcing the values on the employees and conducting performance appraisal that aims to identify how the employees demonstrate the values in the organization. Additionally, during employment organizations need to consider more than just the academic qualifications and employ individuals who will appropriately fit in the culture of the organization (Sinek). The right people and the right values promote success for an organization.

Trust and safety are some of the values that are important to build the heights of any given organization. Building the people in an organization results in the success of the organization (Sinek). Among the other important values, trust and safety should be promoted among the employees and the leaders of an organization. The employees need to have trust in their leaders, and the leaders need to trust that employees will deliver the expected performance. Moreover, the leaders need to understand that a safe environment promotes the performance level of employees, and they should thus uphold this. In promoting a value-based organization trust and safety should thus be included in the core value

“Start With Why " by Simon Sinek is the main reason why some individuals love their jobs and why others simply hate their jobs. The working environment of an institution is determined by the leadership that is present. The leaders include CEO's, managers or team leaders. Good leaders usually focus more on creating a suitable working environment for the employees to ensure that they feel comfortable and safe during working hours. Good leaders moreover, do not concentrate on developing themselves individually as they put the needs of the employees first. A healthy and suitable environment according to the book gives provides an opportunity for the employees to develop and learn becoming more helpful in the institution.

According to the book, by feeling secure in the workplace, employees can cooperate efficiently among themselves and with their leader (Sinek, 2008). The employees are more open to putting forward their suggestions and ideas without fear of any consequences. In any group of individuals, trust is an important aspect and leaders play a significant role in its establishment. The belief comes about because the leader is focused on developing the institution and not their own needs. The leaders Furthermore, always tell the truth and are open to giving guidance to their employees. Good leaders encourage teamwork and trust between employees as they all strive to emulate them. The employees work to ensure the team is satisfied and also do the best for the leaders. Any deviation from the set standards of an institution destroys the trust that exists. The author uses major world events such as World War I and The Great Depression to explain to the reader how trust and teamwork ensured the survival of individuals (Sinek, 2008).

According to Simon Sinek, a good leader should be ready and willing to serve other people. They should be as parents or servants to the people. Leaders should build self-confidence, provide an opportunity to employees, educate and encourage discipline in the workplace. By doing this, the employees will deliver the best result and meet their potential. Having authority does not make one a good leader as most people consider leadership as a rank. Creating a suitable work environment is an important aspect of differentiating a good and successful leader from a bad leader. Leaders take risks before their employees do and moreover sacrifice their needs to ensure the protection and safety of their people. When leaders sacrifice for the good of their people the response is usually remarkable as the people work for them.

The author moreover, emphasizes that good leaders should understand that communication is more about listening than speaking. Listening to the needs of your employees or followers not only earns their trust and creates a good working relationship but also gives a clear insight into what the leader should work on. Communication is two-way traffic according to Simon Sinek and leaders should know how to practice their authority to ensure that they create a healthy working environment for their employees. According to the author, leadership is not about being in control or being the most intelligent individual in the workplace (Sinek, 2008). Listening to other people and analyzing their thoughts and suggestions is a quality of a good leader. Giving people an opportunity to share their ideas by listening to them empowers them.

Leadership also entails the element of having the confidence to trust people to succeed. Leaders should also understand that people can fail in particular situations and should encourage their employees that failure is a learning opportunity. According to Simon Sinek, personality should not be confused with leadership as being a good leader is not about how nice one is. Some leaders are friendly while others are harsh, but these aspects are not included in the qualities of leadership. By having the confidence to trust employees, leaders should be judged by their ability to push employees to achieve what they did not expect. Leaders should believe that their employees or the people around them have something to offer to an institution. Bad leaders are the ones who push employees for their selfish gains. Driving people to work hard should be a selfless act as it is the only way that employees can benefit and empower themselves.

What the book meant to me

Start With Why by Simon Sinek is the best book on leadership I've ever read. The book has taught me an important lesson in life that we should look out for other people which will make other people look out for us. Moreover, the book has taught me that the happiness and trust of a group which is brought about by good leadership are the key aspects in ensuring the success of the group. I am now aware that leadership is not about being in charge and authoritative. Leadership is more about encouraging and empowering other people to succeed and achieve what they did not think they can. Leadership is mostly about supporting others to do well and in the book a leader is like a parent.

Reference

Sinek, S. (2008). Start with Why.