Start With Why

 New York Times
on December 29, 
1913. "The unknown fields in the world which are still unconquered 
are narrowing down, but there still remains this great work."
On December 5, 1914, Shackleton and a crew of twenty-seven 
men set out for the Weddell Sea on the
Endurance,
a 350-ton ship 
that had been constructed with funds from private donors, the 
British government and the Royal Geographical Society. By then, 
World War I was raging in Europe, and money was growing more 
scarce. Donations from English schoolchildren paid for the dog 
teams.
But the crew of the
 Endurance
would never reach the continent of 
Antarctica.
Just a few days out of South Georgia Island in the southern 
Adantic, the ship encountered mile after mile of pack ice, and was 
soon trapped as winter moved in early and with fury. Ice closed in 
around the ship "like an almond in a piece of toffee," a crew member 
wrote. Shackleton and his crew were stranded in the Antarctic for 
ten months as the
 Endurance
drifted slowly north, until the pressure 
of the ice floes finally crushed the ship. On November 21, 1915, the 
crew watched as she sank in the frigid waters of the Weddell Sea.
Stranded on the ice, the crew of the
Endurance
boarded their 
three lifeboats and landed on tiny Elephant Island. There Shackleton 
left behind all but five of his men and embarked on a hazardous 
journey across 800 miles of rough seas to find help. Which, eventu-
ally, they did.
What makes the story of the
Endurance
so remarkable, however, is 
not the expedition, it's that throughout the whole ordeal no one 
died, There were no stories of people eating others and no mutiny.

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THE EMERGENCE OF TRUST 
101 
This was not luck. This was because Shackleton hired good fits. 
He found the right men for the job. When you fill an organization 
with good fits, those who believe what you believe, success just 
happens. And how did Shackleton find this amazing crew? With a 
simple ad in the London
 Times.
Compare that to how we hire people. Like Shackleton, we run 
ads in the newspaper, or on the modern equivalents, Craigslist or 
Monster.com. Sometimes we hire a recruiter to find someone for us, 
but the process is largely the same. We provide a list of qualifica-
tions for the job and expect that the best candidate will be the one 
who meets those requirements.
The issue is how we write those ads. They are all about WHAT 
and not about WHY. A want ad might say, for example, "Account 
executive needed, minimum five years' experience, must have 
working knowledge of industry. Come work for a fantastic, fast-
growing company with great pay and great benefits." The ad may 
produce loads of applicants, but how do we know which is the right 
fit?
Shackleton's ad for crew members was different. His did not say 
WHAT he was looking for. His ad did not say:
"Men needed for expedition. Minimum five years' experience. 
Must know how to hoist mainsail. Come work for a fantastic 
captain."
Rather, Shackleton was looking for those with something more. 
He was looking for a crew that belonged on such an expedition. His 
actual ad ran 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."
The only people who applied for the job were those who read the ad 
and thought it sounded great. They loved insurmountable odds. The 
only people who applied for the job were survivors. Shackleton 

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START WITH WHY 
102 
hired only people who believed what he believed. Their ability to 
survive was guaranteed. When employees belong, they will 
guarantee your success. And they won't be working hard and 
looking for innovative solutions for you, they will be doing it for 
themselves.
What all great leaders have in common is the ability to find good 
fits to join their organizations—those who believe what they believe. 
Southwest Airlines is a great example of a company with a knack for 
hiring good fits. Their ability to find people who embody their cause 
makes it much easier for them to provide great service. As Herb 
Kelleher famously said, "You don't hire for skills, you hire for 
attitude. You can always teach skills." This is all fine and good; the 
problem is, which attitude? What if their attitude is not one that fits 
your culture?
I love asking companies whom they like to hire, and one of the 
most common answers I am given is, "We hire only passionate 
people." But how do you know if someone is passionate for inter-
viewing, but not so passionate for working? The truth is, almost 
every person on the planet is passionate, we are just not all pas-
sionate for the same things. Starting with WHY when hiring dra-
matically increases your ability to attract those who are passionate 
for what you believe. Simply hiring people with a solid resume or 
great work ethic does not guarantee success. The best engineer at 
Apple, for example, would likely be miserable if he worked at Mi-
crosoft. Likewise, the best engineer at Microsoft would probably not 
thrive at Apple. Both are highly experienced and work hard. Both 
may come highly recommended. However, each engineer does not 
fit the culture of the other's company. The goal is to hire those who 
are passionate for your WHY, your purpose, cause or belief, and 
who have the attitude that fits your culture. Once that is established, 
only then should their skill set and experience be evaluated. 
Shackleton could have had the most experienced crew money could 

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THE EMERGENCE OF TRUST 
103 
buy, but if they weren't able to connect on a level much deeper than 
their ability, their survival would not have been a foregone 
conclusion.
For years, Southwest didn't have a complaints department— they 
didn't need one. Though Kelleher rightly talked about the need to 
hire for attitude, the airline in fact deserves more credit for hiring 
the good fits responsible for providing great service. Kelleher was 
not the only one making the hiring decisions, and asking everyone 
to simply trust their gut is too risky. Their genius came from 
figuring out why some people were such good fits and then devel-
oping systems to find more of them.
In the 1970s, Southwest Airlines decided to put their flight at-
tendants in hot pants and go-go boots as part of their uniforms (hey, 
it was the 1970s). It wasn't their idea; Pacific Southwest, the 
California-based airline after which Southwest modeled itself, did it 
first, Southwest simply copied them. Unlike Pacific Southwest, 
however, Southwest figured out something that would prove in-
valuable. They realized that when they recruited flight attendants, 
the only people who applied for the job were cheerleaders and 
majorettes. That's because they were the only people who didn't 
mind wearing the new uniforms. Cheerleaders and majorettes, 
however, fit in perfectly at Southwest. They didn't just have a great 
attitude, their whole disposition was about cheering people on. 
Spreading optimism. Leading crowds to believe that "we can win." 
They were perfect fits at a company that was the champion of the 
common man. Realizing this, Southwest started to recruit only 
cheerleaders and majorettes.
Great companies don't hire skilled people and motivate them, 
they hire already motivated people and inspire them. People are 
either motivated or they are not. Unless you give motivated people 
something to believe in, something bigger than their job to work 

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START WITH WHY 
104 
toward, they will motivate themselves to find a new job and you'll 
be stuck with whoever's left.
Give 'Em a Cathedral
Consider the story of two stonemasons. You walk up to the first 
stonemason and ask, "Do you like your job?" He looks up at you and 
replies, "I've been building this wall for as long as I can remember. 
The work is monotonous. I work in the scorching hot sun all day. 
The stones are heavy and lifting them day after day can be 
backbreaking. I'm not even sure if this project will be completed in 
my lifetime. But it's a job. It pays the bills." You thank him for his 
time and walk on.
About thirty feet away, you walk up to a second stonemason. 
You ask him the same question, "Do you like your job?" He looks up 
and replies, "I love my job. I'm building a cathedral. Sure, I've been 
working on this wall for as long as I can remember, and yes, the 
work is sometimes monotonous. I work in the scorching hot sun all 
day. The stones are heavy and lifting them day after day can be 
backbreaking. I'm not even sure if this project will be completed in 
my lifetime. But I'm building a cathedral."
WHAT these two stonemasons are doing is exactly the same; the 
difference is, one has a sense of purpose. He feels like he belongs. 
He comes to work to be a part of something bigger than the job he's 
doing. Simply having a sense of WHY changes his entire view of his 
job. It makes him more productive and certainly more loyal. 
Whereas the first stonemason would probably take another job for 
more pay, the inspired stonemason works longer hours and would 
probably turn down an easier, higher-paying job to stay and be a