Start with why

AFTERWORD
BE A PART OF THIS MOVEMENT, SHARE YOUR VISION OF THE
WORLD
Before any person or organization can take the steps necessary to be a leader, we
must first agree on a definition of what a leader is. Leadership is not about power
or authority. Leadership is decidedly more human. Being a leader requires one
thing and one thing only: followers. A follower is someone who volunteers to go
where you are going. They choose to go not because they have to, not because
they were incentivized to, not because they were threatened to, but because they
want to. The question is, why would anyone follow you?
If an individual or organization hopes to assume the responsibility of
leadership—a responsibility that is given, not taken—then they must think, act,
and speak in a way that inspires people to follow. Leadership is always about
people. No one leads a company. A company is a legal structure. You can run a
company, you can manage an organization, but you can lead only people. And
that requires two things.
Imagine we’re out on a boat tour with a group of strangers and the boat gets
stranded on a deserted island. How will we get off the island? Some people are
panicking, some people are starting to form little cliques to figure out how to get
off the island. Then, all of a sudden one person stands up and announces, “I will
lead.” We like that; we’re social animals and we respond well to leaders.
Our new leader moves to the front of the group and asks, “Right . . . who’s got
ideas?”
One person raises her hand and suggests we light a fire to attract the attention
of a passing boat or aircraft. “Good idea,” our leader says.
Another person pipes up, “We should forage for food in case we’re stuck here
for a while.”
“Also a good idea,” says the leader.
“We should build a shelter because we’re going to need protection from the
elements.”
Our leader gives a thumbs-up and says, “That’s also a good idea. OK,” he
continues, “let’s take a vote. . . .”
And at that point someone in the group stands up and says, “As we were
coming into shore, I saw some masts and smoke out on the west side of the

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island. There must be a fishing village there. If we can get there, we can get help.
We’re going to have to go through the thick woods to get there, though, and I
can’t do it alone. So if there is anyone who will join me, I’d be grateful. If
anyone doesn’t want to go,” he says, “don’t worry, we’ll come back to get you
when we find help.”
The question is, whom do you want to follow? Do you want to follow the first
guy or the second guy? Both are confident. Both care that we get off the island.
The answer is so obvious it’s almost a silly question: we want to follow the
second guy.
Keep in mind, no one else saw the fishing village. There are no photographs
and no research. All we have is the undying belief of this one person of a world
that exists in the future and his ability to communicate it in a way that lets us
imagine it as clearly.
All leaders must have two things: they must have a vision of the world that
does not exist and they must have the ability to communicate it. The second
leader could have simply stood up, with the same vision of this fishing village,
and simply announced, “This won’t work,” and walked away in the direction of
the village. He would have been a visionary, for sure, but without the ability to
communicate his vision, he cannot be a leader. We all work with people like this
—they walk around with all the answers to all the questions, frustrated that no
one else “gets it.” No one can see what they can see. They are visionaries, for
sure, but they are not leaders.
There are also those who have the gift of gab, the amazing ability to
communicate. But absent a vision, they are just great communicators and not
leaders. The second leader could have also stood up and given a rousing speech
about the importance of us working together. We would have felt wonderful and
excited, but we would still have no clue how to get off the island.
Leadership requires two things: a vision of the world that does not yet exist
and the ability to communicate it.
The question is, where does vision come from? And this is the power of
WHY. Our visions are the world we imagine, the tangible results of what the
world would look like if we spent every day in pursuit of our WHY.
Leaders don’t have all the great ideas; they provide support for those who
want to contribute. Leaders achieve very little by themselves; they inspire people
to come together for the good of the group. Leaders never start with what needs
to be done. Leaders start with WHY we need to do things. Leaders inspire
action.

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