Know your why.

Leaders tend to spend a lot of their time strategically planning what to do and how to do it.  I am a big believer that when you know your why, the how and the what will take care of themselves.

Simon Sinek explains in his excellent book, Start With Why, that “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”. It’s hard to disagree when you consider the effective oratory of Martin Luther King – who incidently “delivered the ’I have a dream’ speech, not the ‘I have a plan’ speech”.

People will follow a leader who shares the same dream. Not because they have to, but because they want to with a burning desire.  Sadly, there are a lot of leaders who have never taken the time to find out what the dreams of the people in their team are.  You need to know your why, and it starts with recruitment.  “If you hire people because they can do a job they’ll work for your money, but if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood, sweat and tears”.

Do you really care about your people, or just what they can do for you? Do you expect people to build your dream with the same enthusiasm as they would build their own?  Do you know your why?

Here’s the take-home message for leaders:

“What you do proves what you believe”, and your why is your most inspirational tool.  Treat your people well and help them to achieve their dreams.  By helping others to achieve their dreams, you’ll be taking a huge leap towards achieving your own.

If you enjoyed reading this, then please check out our MAP programme, designed to assist business leaders with engaging their employees.  It’s based on three key factors: Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose.  When all three are achieved, engagement increases.

I highly recommend that you read ‘Start With Why’ by Simon Sinek. If you prefer, his TED Talk gives a great insight into the main message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sioZd3AxmnE