Start With Why

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.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    There is nothing that brings me more joy and happiness in this world than waking up every day with a clear sense of WHY—to inspire people to do the things that inspire them. It is a simple thing to do when surrounded by so many amazing people to inspire me.
    There are countless people who believed in me and helped me over the years. I’d like to thank those who helped me build a piece of my megaphone with this book. Amy Hertz was the first to insist that I write it and introduced me to my incredible agent, Richard Pine. Richard believes in doing good things in the world and has made it his business to make authors out of those who have a positive message to share. His patience and counsel have been invaluable. To Russ Edelman who was such a nice guy to introduce me to his editor, Jeffrey Krames, who, in turn, took a bet on me and let me push him to do things differently. To Adrian Zackheim, who willingly challenges convention and is leading the evolution of the publishing industry.
    Thank you to Mark Rubin, who sees the colors I can see and in whose basement I started writing, to Tom and Alicia Rypma, in whose home I continued writing, and to Delta Airlines, for being so good to me while I wrote so much at 35,000 feet. To Julia Hurley, who made sure everything was right. To the whole team at Portfolio, who worked so hard to bring this book to life. And, most importantly, to Laurie Flynn, who so passionately devoted herself (and her family) to help me tell this story.
    I have had the great honor and privilege of meeting some wonderful people who have inspired me in a way that is hard to quantify. Ron Bruder has changed the way I see the world. Brig. Gen. Lori Robinson has shown me what the humility of great leadership looks like. Kim Harrison, who lives her WHY—to appreciate all good things around her—and works tirelessly to see to it that good ideas and people are appreciated. She taught me what a true partnership looks and feels like. And to those whose shared what they know to help bring the WHY to life, I am truly grateful for your time and energy: Colleen Barrett, Gordon Bethune, Ben Comen, Randy Fowler, Christina Harbridge, Dwayne Honoré, Howard Jeruchimowitz, Guy Kawasaki, Howard Putnam, James Tobin, Acacia Salatti, Jeff Sumpter, Col. “Cruiser” Wilsbach and Steve Wozniak.
    Long before there was even an idea of a book, there were all the people and early adopters who wanted to learn about the WHY and use The Golden Circle to help build their organizations. This forward-thinking group were willing to embrace a new idea and were essential to helping me figure out many of the details and nuances of the concept. Thank you to Geoffrey Dzikowski, Jenn Podmore, Paul Guy, Kal Shah, Victor DeOliveria, Ben Rosner, Christopher Bates, Victor Chan, Ken Tabachnick, Richard Baltimore, Rick Zimmerman, Russ Natoce, Missy Shorey, Morris Stemp, Gabe Solomon, Eddie Esses and Elizabeth Hare, who saw the value of the WHY in building the most valuable organization of all—her family. Thank you to Fran Biderman-Gross, who is not only an early adopter, but who went out of her way to embrace her WHY in all aspects of her life and to encourage others to learn their WHY, too. Thank you to Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, Congressman Paul Hodes, and Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, who gave me so much and continue to give back to others with such passion.
    Over the years there were those who gave me a break and helped advance my cause. Thank you to Trudi Baldwin, the director of the Graduate Program in Strategic Communications at Columbia University (a wonderful program), Jim Berrien, who trusted me, the