I show all my clients Simon Sinek’s TED talk, “Start with why” as it highlights the connection between purpose and success in business. Focusing on why you do something is important because people buy into your beliefs first, before they buy into your product.

Sinek gives the example of Apple. Apple are just a computer company, however they are more successful and bigger than any of their competitors and are associated as much more. Dell, Microsoft and Sony, to name a few, are all equally as capable of making laptops and phones which are beautifully designed, high quality and functional products – but no one buys their products to the volume of Apple. You would never think of buying an mp3 player which wasn’t an iPod.

This is because all these firms approach product by starting with what, then how and last of all, why.

For example:

What? We are selling a computer

How? It’s beautifully designed, built and user friendly

Why? Well…

Starting with ‘what’ is not convincing, you don’t want to buy a computer. However if we start with why, if we start with a core purpose, it is much easier to align yourself with the end product because we can all share an idea.

Take this:

Why? We want to challenge the status quo with everything we do. We believe in thinking differently.

How? The way we do this is to make our product beautifully designed, built and user friendly

What? Here’s our computer…

Starting with why creates a more wholesome product that people can buy into.

Watch the full talk here