Start with Why Part 5 of 7: The Wright Brothers
April 30, 2010 by dr. lam · 4 Comments
Sinek recounts the story of Samuel Pierpont Langley. Who? Exactly. Langley was an astronomer and inventor who was well connected with giants like Andrew Carnegie and Alexander Graham Bell. He served at the Smithsonian Institute, the Harvard Observatory, and at the U.S. Naval Academy. He was desirous of making the first heavier-than-air flying machine. He was well funded, well educated, intelligent, and determined.
About the same time, Orville and Wilbur Wright worked on the same goal. They were poorly educated and used the proceeds from their bicycle shop to finance their endeavors. All of their staff barely had any education, many not even high school. However, failure after failure, they plugged away until the fateful day of December 17, 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina when their contraption stayed afloat for a miraculous 59 seconds, none of which was even covered by the press until after the fact.
Once Langley got wind of this achievement he quit. How did he fail despite intelligence, creativity, funding, and a strong work ethic? He had no WHY. He wanted to be famous like Alexander Graham Bell. The Wright Brothers wanted to accomplish the impossible for the betterment of humanity. Langley’s quitting right after the Wright brother’s initial success is a testament to his motivations. Once the fame component was taken from him, he had no more incentive. Why are you doing what you are doing? Money and fame? Or is there a deeper WHY?
Start with Why Part 4 of 7: Building a Cathedral
April 29, 2010 by dr. lam · 4 Comments
This is a favorite story of mine that I believe I heard from Sinek first but may have heard elsewhere. After reading it again in the book, Start with Why, I wanted to share it you…
A man walks up to two stonemasons. He asks the first one, “Do you like your job?” The first stonemason responds, “No, I hate it. I toil every day in the hot, scorching sun. I have no breaks. I lift heavy rocks, and I have no idea why I am doing this or when this project will ever end. I have been doing this monotonous work for as long as I can remember.”
The man walks thirty feet farther and asks the second man, “Do you like your job?” The second stonemason answers, “Of course, I do. I am building a cathedral. Yes, I have been doing this for as long as I can recall, and it gets pretty hot out here carrying these hard and heavy rocks. I have no idea whether this project will be completed in my lifetime, but I am building a cathedral.”
When we have a sense of purpose, a mission, a WHY, we have something so deep that we are propelled forward. We don’t sense the negative but are only possessed by the positive. We are filled with why we do what we do and it makes all the difference. Why do you do what you? What is your why?
Start with Why Part 3 of 7: The Shackleton Expedition
April 28, 2010 by dr. lam · 6 Comments
Finding people who believe in what you believe in is what I am all about. Who am I directing that to? Everyone. My patients, my staff, and my friends. I want them to be imbued with the same passion, compassion, and drive that I am. That is why I have such loyal patients, such amazing staff, and that is why I hang out with people from the Entrepreneur’s Organization, all of whom share my same passion for being better and making a difference.
The English adventurer Ernest Shackleton set out to explore the Antarctic in the early twentieth century. Since the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, had already become the first explorer to reach the South Pole, it became Shackleton’s quest to cross the continent.
On December 5, 1914, Shackleton and a crew of twenty-seven set out for the Weddell Sea on the Endurance. However, the crew would never reach the continent of Antarctica. Just a few days out of South Georgia in the southern Atlantic, the ship got stuck in endless pack ice, eventually crushing the ship on November 21, 1915. The crew watched the ship sink into the frigid waters of the Weddell Sea. In three lifeboats, the crew landed on tiny Elephant Island. Leaving all but five men, Shackleton set out over 800 miles of rough sea to find help, which they eventually did.
How did all of these men survive? Because Shackleton hired the right people. He did not ask for crew like this: “Men needed for expedition. Minimum five years’ experience. Must know how to hoist mainsail. Come work for a fantastic captain.”
Instead, his ad in the London Times read like this: “Men wanted for Hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” Perhaps that would not be a great ad in Craigslist today. However, it got the right people on his bus, so to speak. His right hires allowed his crew to make it safely back from an impossible journey. How good is the fit of your company’s employees? How good is the fit of the friends you hang out with? How good is the fit of those who are your clients or patients?
Start with Why Part 2 of 7: The Golden Circle
April 27, 2010 by dr. lam · 6 Comments
The Golden Circle of Simon Sinek begins with the why on the inside of the circle, moves to the how, and ends with the what. Apple, Inc. believes that they are here to challenge the status quo and to think differently (the WHY), using innovation and revolutionary thinking (HOW) in order to create the greatest technological products on the market (WHAT). Most companies create the what first. They create a great product first, then you as a consumer are supposed to buy it.
However, many people that claim that they buy Apple products (including myself perhaps foolishly) believe that we are buying the product for the WHAT, i.e., a great computer. That is actually a bit of a lie. We Apple fanatics buy the computer because we aspire to be the WHY: we are opposed to the status quo; we are creative professionals; we value excellent design and functionality in our life; and we are intrepid people who think differently.
As Sinek says, people who wear a Harley-Davidson tattoo emblazoned on their arm do not do so for the WHAT, i.e., not because Harleys ride that much better. They instead subscribe to the WHY, i.e., the lifestyle, the philosophy, the perspective celebrated by Harley-Davidson.
I think Sinek’s Golden Circle can be a great starting point for any of us who are desirous in finding what we want to do in our life. I had a cousin who asked me how he could find his passion. I asked him to start with why. He said he loved connecting with people. I said that is great. Start with that desire and move backwards to the what. You might just find your passion that way. All of us should start at the beginning, which is the why not the what of it all.
Mindfulness Mondays 48: Don’t expect applause
April 26, 2010 by dr. lam · 6 Comments
Too often we perform things in life in order to receive applause and recognition. However, when we don’t get that recognition, we feel saddened, angered, resentful, etc. When we receive applause, we turn towards ego, self satisfaction, and superiority. Which emotional state is better? Neither. When we expect or desire applause and recognition for our work, we then turn towards a self-gratifying way of seeing the world that belies our true intentions of what we do and why we do it.
Instead we can act in our life, as we said last week out of passion and compassion. Then we do not need to sit and wait for someone to pat you on your back. This week focus on doing something good because you can or should and not for any desire for recognition. In fact, find something you can do that no one will ever find out it was you who did it and tell no one of your act. Live in the satisfaction that we don’t need applause and should not be motivated by it.