Why do you do what you do? Perhaps you are very familiar with what you do and maybe even how you do it, but have you really defined why? In Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, Simon Sinek implores the reader to understand the why as the critical piece of information that separates success from mediocrity, or even failure.

Too many times the lack of a crystal clear understanding of why prevents the kind of success that most businesses are looking for. Leaders often tend to concentrate on what they do, without considering why. The TiVo is but one example of failure to understand, and explain the why. While TiVo is a household word, the actual company was not successful; according to Sinek, because they explained what the box would do, but failed to explain why consumers would benefit from owning that box.

While the book mentions great leaders inspiring people, it starts out reading more like a marketing book. But there's a not so subtle link here and one that is vital to successful leadership. A leader must understand why they do what they do and, most importantly, they must make why clear to every member of the organization as well as the customer. Sinek spends some time discussing how companies such as Wal-Mart and Starbucks lost their top-of-the-heap standing when they strayed from the original why of the company's founders, situations they are now scrambling to fix.

Knowing why is essential to success, but knowing how is also important. Often the person who can initially define why isn't the best one to implement the how. Gates and Allen and Jobs and Wozniak are good examples of teams in which one member understood the why (Gates and Jobs) and the other (Allen and Wozniak) knew the how. Microsoft and Apple respectively prove the concept.

Start With Why presents a basic concept that shouldn't be much of a revelation to any leader, but alas, it probably will be for far too many. Those who don't understand the concept referred to in this review need to read this book right away. Those who do understand still need to read the book because Sinek expounds on a very important concept that needs regular reinforcement.

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