Start with why

14
THE NEW COMPETITION

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If You Follow Your WHY, Then Others Will Follow You
“BANG!” The gun fires and the race is on. The runners take off across the field.
It rained the day before and the ground is still damp. The temperature is cool. It
is a perfect day for running. The line of runners quickly forms a pack. Like a
school of fish they come together as one. They move as one. The pack sets a
pace to maximize their energy for the whole race. As with any race, in a short
period of time the stronger ones will start to pull ahead and the weaker ones will
start to fall behind. But not Ben Comen. Ben was left behind as soon as the
starter gun sounded. Ben’s not the fastest runner on the team. In fact, he’s the
slowest. He has never won a single race the entire time he’s been on the Hanna
High School cross-country track team. Ben, you see, has cerebral palsy.
Cerebral palsy, a condition often caused by complications at birth, affects
someone’s movement and balance. The physical problems endure for a lifetime.
Misshapen spines create a twisted posture. Muscles are often withered and motor
reflexes slow. Tightness in the muscles and joints also affect balance. Those with
CP often have an unsteady gait, their knees knock and their feet drag. To an
outsider, they may seem clumsy. Or even broken.
The pack pulls farther and farther ahead while Ben falls farther and farther
behind. He slips on the wet grass and falls forward into the soft earth. He slowly
picks himself up and keeps going. Down he goes again. This time it hurts. He
gets back up and keeps running. Ben won’t quit. The pack is now out of sight
and Ben is running alone. It is quiet. He can hear his own labored breathing. He
feels lonely. He trips over his own feet again, and down he goes yet another
time. No matter his mental strength, there is no hiding the pain and frustration on
his face. He grimaces as he uses all his energy to pull himself back to his feet to
continue running. For Ben, this is part of the routine. Everyone else finishes the
race in about twenty-five minutes. It usually takes Ben more than forty-five
minutes.
When Ben eventually crosses the finish line he is in pain and he is exhausted.
It took every ounce of strength he had to make it. His body is bruised and
bloodied. He is covered in mud. Ben inspires us, indeed. But this is not a story of
“when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” This is not a story of “when
you fall down, pick yourself up.” Those are great lessons to learn, without a
doubt, but we don’t need Ben Comen to teach us those lessons. There are dozens
of others we can look to for that, like an Olympic athlete, for example, who

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suffered an injury just months before the games only to come back to win a
medal. Ben’s lesson is deeper.
Something amazing happens after about twenty-five minutes. When
everybody else is done with their race, everyone comes back to run with Ben.
Ben is the only runner who, when he falls, someone else will help pick him up.
Ben is the only runner who, when he finishes, has a hundred people running
behind him.
What Ben teaches us is special. When you compete against everyone else, no
one wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everyone wants
to help you. Olympic athletes don’t help each other. They’re competitors. Ben
starts every race with a very clear sense of WHY he’s running. He’s not there to
beat anyone but himself. Ben never loses sight of that. His sense of WHY he’s
running gives him the strength to keep going. To keep pushing. To keep getting
up. To keep going. And to do it again and again and again. And every day he
runs, the only time Ben sets out to beat is his own.
Now think about how we do business. We’re always competing against
someone else. We’re always trying to be better than someone else. Better
quality. More features. Better service. We’re always comparing ourselves to
others. And no one wants to help us. What if we showed up to work every day
simply to be better than ourselves? What if the goal was to do better work this
week than we did the week before? To make this month better than last month?
For no other reason than because we want to leave the organization in a better
state than we found it?
All organizations start with WHY, but only the great ones keep their WHY
clear year after year. Those who forget WHY they were founded show up to the
race every day to outdo someone else instead of to outdo themselves. The
pursuit, for those who lose sight of WHY they are running the race, is for the
medal or to beat someone else.
What if the next time when someone asks, “Who’s your competition?” we
replied, “No idea.” What if the next time someone pushes, “Well, what makes
you better than your competition?” we replied, “We’re not better than them in all
cases.” And what if the next time someone asks, “Well why should I do business
with you then?” we answer with confidence, “Because the work we’re doing
now is better than the work we were doing six months ago. And the work we’ll
be doing six months from now will be better than the work we’re doing today.
Because we wake up every day with a sense of WHY we come to work. We
come to work to inspire people to do the things that inspire them. Are we better
than our competition? If you believe what we believe and you believe that the
things we do can help you, then we’re better. If you don’t believe what we

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believe and you don’t believe the things we can do will help you, then we’re not
better. Our goal is to find customers who believe what we believe and work
together so that we can all succeed. We’re looking for people to stand shoulder-
to-shoulder with us in pursuit of the same goal. We’re not interested in sitting
across a table from each other in pursuit of a sweeter deal. And here are the
things we’re doing to advance our cause . . .” And then the details of HOW and
WHAT you do follow. But this time, it started with WHY.
Imagine if every organization started with WHY. Decisions would be simpler.
Loyalties would be greater. Trust would be a common currency. If our leaders
were diligent about starting with WHY, optimism would reign and innovation
would thrive. As this book illustrates, there is precedence for this standard. No
matter the size of the organization, no matter the industry, no matter the product
or the service, if we all take some responsibility to start with WHY and inspire
others to do the same, then, together, we can change the world.
And that’s pretty inspiring.
If this book inspired you, please pass it on to someone you want to inspire.

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