How great leaders inspire confidence

Speaking in the popular TED.com series, Simon Sinek (author, marketing consultant, and motivational speaker) does an entertaining job of laying out the foundational way that leaders motivate others.

Amongst other things, Sinek outlines the communication pattern used by all inspiring organizations.

What: Every organization knows what they do.

How: Some organizations know how they do it (e.g., different value proposition, proprietary process, unique selling proposition).

Why: Very few know why they do it. This isn’t to make a profit, but the purpose, cause, belief, and the reason why the organization exists–and why anyone should care.

Sinek argues that most organizations communicate from the outside-in (what-how-why), but the most inspiring organizations communicate from the inside-out (why-how-what). For example, in terms of Apple, their communication may be in line of:

Why: Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo…we believe in thinking differently.

How: The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly.

What: We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?

The why, Sinek argues, is the key component in effectively inspiring confidence. “People don’t buy what you do, they buy how you do it”. In terms of leadership, Sinek proclaims:

There are leaders and those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or authority. But those who lead inspire us. Whether they’re individuals or organizations, we follow those who lead…not because we have to, but because we want to. And it’s those who start with why who have the ability to inspire those around them.

The full TED.com presentation can be found on YouTube.