Category — Leadership Lessons

Over the last couple of weeks I have had the opportunity to speak to several groups on leadership and influence. These groups ranged from teenagers to hospital recruiters to government employees and executives of a fortune 500 company. As we discussed leadership it was interesting to get their differing views on what makes a leader influential, but they all agreed that a leader must lead by example.

Perhaps you’ve heard of Jeremy Lin and “Linsanity”, or perhaps you don’t follow sports at all. In case you haven’t or don’t, let me give you some background.

Jeremy Lin is a 6’3″ basketball player. He went 32-1 as a high school senior and helped his team win a California State Championship, and even though he was first team All State and Northern California Player of the Year, and a 4.2 GPA student, he got no Division 1 scholarships – not even from his hometown, dream college, Stanford.

What follows is a presentation given by Simon Sinek. In the video presentation he shares a simple, yet powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" He draws from examples which include the Wright brothers, and Apple computer among others.

Key points:

The golden circle is made up of three components:
1. why
2. how
3. what

* “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

* “if you talk about what you believe, you will attract those who believe what you believe.”