April & May 2023 Book: Start with Why by Simon Sinek

[Pesso]

Hey Square Readers,

Who’s ready to read?

First, wow. I am so blown away by the response and excitement that all of you have for the Square Readers Book Club. Thank you so much. Right now we have 1982 members, and 799 of you voted on our first book! The count was really close, but in the end we have a winner and a pick for our first one. 

We’ll start voting for the June & July book on Monday, May 1st. 

Click the Join Group button at the top to officially be a part of things.

And now for the news:

We’re kicking things off with our book for April & May 2023, Start with Why by Simon Sinek.

Here’s a quick summary:

“Why do you do what you do? Any organization can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate why. WHY is not money or profit—those are always results. WHY does your organization exist? WHY does it do the things it does? WHY do customers really buy from one company or another? Starting with WHY works in big business and small business, in the nonprofit world and in politics. Drawing on a wide range of real-life stories, Sinek weaves together a clear vision of what it truly takes to lead and inspire.”

Here’s a 5 minute video clip of his TED Talk to help get you inspired and excited about the book.

So get ready and pick up this book at your local library, local bookstore, Amazon, or anywhere else. Feel free to go for any version you’d prefer: paper, digital, or audiobook. (Listening totally counts as reading too!)

You have plenty of time to read, so take your time. The book is 256 pages, so reading between 5-10 pages a day will get you there in time. Jump into our discussion threads as you go.

We will have our Live Video Discussion on Tuesday May 23rd at 4 PM (US & CA Eastern) to talk through the book. See the Event Listing for Time Zone Conversions and to RSVP! 

I'll be posting in our group throughout the next two months with for discussion questions, articles, videos, key insights, and more ways for you to learn and share. 

Get involved in these discussion posts:

• RSVP to our Live Discussion on Tuesday, May 23rd
• Post a Book Selfie
• Opening Discussion Post
• Your Favorite Quotes
• What is your Why?
• What can you do to be true to your Why?
  
• Are you a How or a Why person?
• More from the Author
• Full Book Summary

Happy reading,

Pesso

[Pesso]

Yes! I just got my copies and diving into reading tonight!

[brandsendeavor]

From this book, I hope to learn how to articulate my business why confidently and successfully in a way that resonates with my target audience and is on the path toward long-term success.

[Pesso]

I love that goal, @brandsendeavor ! Not only knowing but being able to clearly explain your business and its why is absolutely essential. Once you have it down, it will absolutely resonate either with your existing audience or with a brand new one that's even more aligned. 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts in the discussions as we go!

[DogEaredBooks]

I hope to be able to remember WHY I opened my store. It’s my one year anniversary April 29 and I’ve already forgotten and fallen out of touch with my WHY. 

[Pesso]

Congrats on the upcoming 1 year, @DogEaredBooks ! That's a huge milestone.

It can definitely be easy to stray from the why when your focus becomes the day to day. I'm excited to hear your thoughts as we go and reading about your journey back to your why!

[HCLMMT]

I’m so excited! I received my book last week so I’ll start reading tomorrow— relaxing Easter activity 😇

[Pesso]

Wonderful, @HCLMMT ! I hope the holiday and the start of reading has been going well!

Looking forward to having you in our discussions.

[BofBArtStudio]

I love this book.  It is already on my shelf.  And I love the Ted Talk.  

This is a great read for any business that wants to do great things, gain loyal customers, and out-pace their competition.

[Pesso]

That's so great that you already have the book and watched the TED talk, @BofBArtStudio .

I'd love to hear all of your insights and learnings about it here or in the future discussion posts!

Thanks again for joining-

[Moreplease]

A major part of my business rebrand was finally finding my why! From this book, I'm hoping to better be able to describe my why in detail in a way that I can articulate it to my customers and build a loyal relationship. I feel so deeply about things but at times have a hard time articulating it for others to understand. I'm very excited. 

[Pesso]

Thanks so much for sharing and joining, @Moreplease !

I love that you were working on your why already as part of your rebrand -- I'd love to hear all about that process!

So wonderful to hear that you have that passion already. That's often the hardest part! Being able to articular it can definitely be tricky, and a lot of that is just practice and testing. 

You got this and your customers will love it, and that loyalty will grow.

Looking forward to hearing all about your journey and learnings in our discussions!

[DragonDon]

So far some of the logic seems overly forced.  In the initial 3 examples, he ends with ‘they started with why”.  The problem with that is it’s a huge assumption because he never explains how he knows this or where this was ever the case.

Geeks building a computer in a garage don’t start with ‘why’, they start with ‘I want to build cool stuff with electronics.”  So the logic in his examples seems rather flawed, or at least, lacking.

[Pesso]

Thanks so much for sharing, @DragonDon -

That's totally fair, I thought it felt a little forced and not really backed up too much too.

My hope is that it was just the intro section of the book and he'll dive in deeper in the rest of it. Although to his credit on there have been a lot of interviews with Steve Wozniak where he does talk about how he absolutely started with why. Building cool stuff with electronics, in order to unlock the potential of them and make computing accessible for themselves and everyone in the world, is absolutely a why that they started with. 

Sinek didn't really dive into it, but from what I've read and heard, that's what it was. And yes, absolutely, I hope things get fleshed out a bit more as we go -- I'm hopeful and optimistic!

I do think that his main thing with these examples is the passion, and that can be a why too. Doing think that they want to do, rather than doing things simply to make money, is what I got out of that section. Wright brothers didn't build the plan to make a business out of it, they did it because they wanted to and were excited about it. 

Thanks again for sharing, joining, reading, and being a part of this journey!
Pesso

[DragonDon]

As I’ve been reading, my initial impression of the author is only being confirmed.

As with most of us, we’ve all likely seen his talks.  And more talks.  And more talks.  I’ve only ever seen references to his talks, and of course this book.  After reading this book so far, my first impression of it was that he was trying to force an analogy using popular and notable people/companies.

Now I’m reading the Golden Ratio/Circle part and it’s the same thing.  Taking an established idea and then trying to  impart that validated idea onto his own spin.  This is pure marketing hype and not much else.  I’ll finish the book but I’m guessing there’ll be nothing of substance to act upon.  No real steps to follow.  We’ll see.

[GourmetOnWheels]

I agree I got more out of

Zeynep Thon: The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits

and 

Profit First by Mike Michalowicz 

I got a lot of ideas from both books

René

[Pesso]

Hey Square Readers!

I just posted our Opening Discussion thread and a Book Selfie thread!

Jump on in to share your thoughts so far:

Get involved into these discussion posts:

• Introduce Yourself
• RSVP to our Live Discussion on Tuesday, May 23rd
• Post a Book Selfie
• Opening Discussion Post

[OTGmember]

I already had this book on my book shelf but never finished reading it.  I will this time.  Thanks!

[Pesso]

That's so wonderful that this is inspiring you to finally finish reading the book, @OTGmember ! Thanks for joining and looking forward to hearing your thoughts in our discussion threads. Let us know how it goes!

[Barbershop806]

📕good

[Pesso]

Thanks so much @Barbershop806 !

[Granny1]

Wow, I listened to the book on audible.com and it was great. I learned a lot from this book. Can't wait to discuss it with you all.