The WHY of it
I’ve watched it three times now, trying to remember something I used to know so well: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Action, Simon Sinek‘s fascinating TEDx (Puget Sound) presentation.
It’s not that I used to be into leadership as such, but I certainly used to know WHY I did things, and I felt passionate about them. Before I lost my mojo, people commented on my energy and enthusiasm, but lately I’ve just felt exhausted – and what’s missing is definitely the why.
Sinek’s talk gives me a useful framework for a rethink. I’ve berated myself about not being able to find my theme or “statement,” find my definition of what I want to do. But as Sinek would point out, what you want to do isn’t the driving factor: it’s why you want to do it.
(Re)-finding the why of wanting to do anything is going to be a bit of a journey to the center of the earth (or rather, of Planet Me). I believe in adding value, but it feels like I’ve reached the end of the line here: whatever value I have to add isn’t valued where I happen to be.
A big hat-tip to Naomi Devine without whose facebook link I would have missed this presentation.
June 4th, 2010 at 11:55 am
There are a bunch of short conversations with Sinek on YouTube, worth watching. One of my favorites is How verbs are useful when setting measurable goals. Loved Sinek’s own goals (which I can relate to):
“Take an unconventional perspective” (could say, “exercise imagination, don’t settle for status quo answers”);
“keep it simple” (could say, “don’t overwork it/ try to overperfect it”);
“share” (yep, could say “keep it open”);
“silver line it” (Sinek explains as follows: “Find the silver lining in every cloud. The goal is not to fix the things that are broken. The goal is to amplify the things that work.”);
“make long term progress”