… they buy WHY you do it.
That’s one of the main points I’m getting as I’ve started reading Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
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Most businesses, organizations, and people start with WHAT they do, then they *might* get to HOW they do it, but few really can communicate WHY they do it.
Sinek says that many businesses have no idea why their customers are their customers and why their employees are their employees. There are two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or inspire it.
The transactional mindset of manipulations include the following: “dropping price; running a promotion; using fear, peer pressure or aspirational messages, and promising innovation to influence behavior – be it a purchase, a vote, or support” (p. 17).
These manipulations are not necessarily bad, as long as you understand they only work for the short-term, though. For example, while shopping, if I’m in transaction mode, all things considered, I’ll probably look at price. Then I may think about quality.
The other, more effective way, Simon argues, is to (more…)