Welcome to another week at the “Moving Forward” blog. If you’re called to leadership, you might have heard someone say, “Leaders are readers.” It’s true. If you want your leadership to improve, if you want to move forward in any area of life, then you need to be a reader, because leaders ARE readers. In the coming days, I want to share book reviews of the books that I’ve read, which have helped me (or not), in order to help you. Today, I’m going to share our very first book review, and it’s about “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek.
I mentioned this book in my first post, and now that I’ve finished it, it’s time to share my review on it. In “Start with Why,” Simon Sinek explores why we must start with why. From the back of the book, “Any person or organization can explain what they do; some can explain how they are different or better; but very few can clearly articulate why… Why is the thing that inspires us and inspires those around us.” The concept that I took away from this book is Simon Sinek’s “golden circle.” Imagine three concentric circles. The inner-most circle is the “why” circle, which is most important. It is surrounded by the “how” circle, which is 2nd most important. Lastly the outer-most circle is the “what” circle, which includes your products, services, and even employees. We must start with “why” before the “how” and “what,” and that is a very good point if we are to inspire and motivate others beyond a transactional style of leadership and motivation.
Unfortunately, while I agree with the premise of the book, that we must explain the “why” before the “what,” Simon Sinek has poor execution in terms of his structure and writing style. If you’re a scatterbrain-type, which I am not, this book might make a lot of sense to you. However, if you’re more logical, analytical, or linear in thinking, then the very structure and writing style might interfere with your understanding and make the book a hard read, as it was for me. Structurally, Simon Sinek did not use enough headings for each chapter. He also spent two chapters instead of one before introducing his main point which gave the book a slow start. Further, his stories are long-winded and could be shortened. However, he is a great storyteller. Simon Sinek is a well-known speaker and communicator in Ted talk circles, but his verbal skills don’t translate well as an author. He makes a lot of good, even great points, but he needs to articulate them better in writing.
In our book reviews at “Moving Forward,” we’re going to give each book a rating based on a 5-star rating system. Five stars would be excellent, four stars good, three is average, two is fair, and one is poor. Even though Simon Sinek makes a lot of good and great points in his book, “Start with Why,” I only give it three stars because of his structure, lack of organization, and writing style. This book has a great premise, but it was a very difficult book to read.
Moving Forward 