Start With Why

months of thinking I couldn’t, now I knew I could.
    I made myself a guinea pig for the concept. If the reason I hit rock bottom was because my Golden Circle was out of balance, then I needed to get it back in balance. If it was important to start with WHY, then I would start with WHY in everything I did. There is not a single concept in this book that I don’t practice. I stand at the mouth of my megaphone and I talk about the WHY to anyone who will listen. Those early adopters who hear my cause see me as a tool in their arsenal to achieve their own WHY. And they introduced me to others whom they believed I could inspire. And so the Law of Diffusion started to do its job.
    Though The Golden Circle and the concept of WHY was working for me, I wanted to show it to others. I had a decision to make: do I try to patent it, protect it and use it to make lots of money, or do I give it away? This decision was to be my first Celery Test. My WHY is to inspire people to do the things that inspire them, and if I am to be authentic to that cause there was only one decision to make—to give it away, to talk about it, to share it. There would never be any secret sauce or special formula for which only I knew the ingredients. The vision is to have every person and every organization know their WHY and use it to benefit all they do. So that’s what I’m doing, and I’m relying entirely on the concept of WHY and the naturally occurring pattern that is The Golden Circle to help me get there.
    The experiment started to work. Prior to starting with WHY, I had been invited to give one public speech in my life. Now I get between thirty and forty invitations per year, from all sorts of audiences, all over the world, to speak about The Golden Circle. I speak to audiences of entrepreneurs, large corporations, nonprofits, in politics and government. I’ve spoken at the Pentagon to the chief of staff and the secretary of the Air Force. Prior to The Golden Circle, I didn’t even know anyone in the military. Prior to starting with WHY, I had never been on television; in fewer than two years I started getting regular invitations to appear on MSNBC. I’ve worked with members of Congress, having never done any government or political work prior to starting with WHY.
    I am the same person. I know the same things I did before. The only difference is, now I start with WHY. Like Gordon Bethune who turned around Continental with the same people and the same equipment, I was able to turn things around with the things I already knew and did.
    I’m not better connected than everyone else. I don’t have a better work ethic. I don’t have an Ivy League education and my grades in college were average. The funniest part is, I still don’t know how to build a business. The only thing that I do that most people don’t is I learned how to start with WHY.

14
    THE NEW COMPETITION

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