THE BIG “WHY” OF NEUROSEMANTICS
Written by: L. Michael Hall
2017 Neurons #26
June 12, 2017
In preparing for my next project I recently reread Simon Sinek’s Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, 2009. While it is a business book and a book on leadership, more than that it is a book that fits with what we do in Neuro-Semantics about intentionality. Using the “why is that important” question, and holding each answer and then asking it repeatedly, we move a person to find or to create his or her big why. Doing that simultaneously enables a person to discover and activate one’s highest values.
In the book, Start with Why, Sinek compares three questions to the three functions in an organization. Taking why, how, and what, he argues that the “why” question functions as the CEO of a company, the “how” question is the domain for the executive managers, and the “what” question is how a company manifests its purpose or why. He calls this the Golden Circle and draws three concentric circles putting why in the middle, then how, then what. He then writes:
“It starts with clarity. You have to know why you do what you do.” (p. 65)
“Knowing why is essential for lasting success...” (p. 47)
What is our why? Do you know?
Neuro-Semantics began with a significant and a big why. Today you will find it in our Vision and Mission statement. Do you know that statement by heart? Do you know how the why has developed and evolved over the years?
What was the why when we began Neuro-Semantics in 1994?