Leadership in Economic Development: Start With Why

An Alternative Perspective

When most organizations or people think, act or communicate, we say what we do, we sometimes say how we do it, but we rarely say why we do what we do, says Sinek. However, people do not buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it. In what he calls The Golden Circle, Sinek illustrates a pattern with the WHY at the core, the HOW as the inner ring and the WHAT as the outer ring.

For great leaders, The Golden Circle is in balance. They are in pursuit of WHY, they hold themselves accountable to HOW they do it, and WHAT they do serves as tangible proof of what they believe. Sharing our passion is key for enabling us to connect at an emotional level with those we serve — whether internal team members, external partners, or the community at large.

Start With Why, But Know How

For every great leader, for every WHY-type, there is an inspired HOW-type or group of HOW-types who take the intangible cause and build the infrastructure that can give it life, observes Sinek. Most people in the world are HOW-types, and while they do not need WHY-types to be successful, the WHY-types need them to build great, inspiring organizations.

Great organizations not only excite the human spirit but inspire people to take part in helping to advance the cause without needing to pay them or incentivize them in any particular way, says Sinek. They willingly take up arms to share the message that inspires them.

Pitfalls to Consider

The biggest challenge is success. In the course of building an organization or career, we become more confident in WHAT we do and greater experts in HOW we do it — but for most of us, somewhere in the journey we forget WHY we set out on the journey in the first place. As a result, the WHY and WHAT can fall out of alignment.

Good successions keep the WHY alive. Succession CEOs of great organizations do not take the helm to implement their own vision; they pick up the original banner and lead the organization into the next generation. Succession is more than selecting someone with an appropriate skill set — it is about finding someone who is in lockstep with the original cause.

Closing Thoughts

We are nothing short of blessed to serve in the profession of economic development where we share a vision — one in which every person has the opportunity to reach their fullest productive potential regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, income, background, or geography. This is our call. This is our purpose. This is our reason for getting up in the morning. This is our WHY.