The secret ingredient of successful leaders (video)

What’s the secret ingredient in the recipe for successful leaders?

Success can be defined in many ways. For some it means wealth, for others respect or fame. But sometimes money and power aren’t enough. Success also means well-being, dreams come true, fulfillment and peace of mind. The late poet Maya Angelou put it this way: “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”

Every leader is chasing success. But what sets a leader apart from the crowd? Why do some leaders inspire and succeed with ease, while others struggle all their lives?

The answer is simple: some people understand how success works, and others don’t. To see where a true leader fits in, let’s sort people, and what they do, by three questions: what, how and why.

WHAT: the easiest question. Everyone knows what they do. This group includes anyone who can follow simple instructions, which is nearly everyone on the planet.

HOW: a fairly large share of people know how things are done. These are the specialists in their fields.

WHY: the question only leaders can answer. As the saying goes, the people who know “why” end up paying the people who know “how.”

Being a leader comes down to one simple condition: you need followers. A leader leads people. So what’s the best way to do that? Think outside the box. Be different. Most people think in this order: what → how → why. Successful leaders think in exactly the opposite order: why → how → what.

Here’s an example of how the two approaches work (or don’t):

Farmer A sells chickens. Here’s his pitch to potential customers: I sell chickens (what). They’re raised in great conditions, with no hormones or antibiotics (how). Buy my chickens and you’ll love their quality (why).

Farmer B, down the road, sells chickens too. Here’s his pitch: Do you want to give your family the very best? Tired of paying for tasteless meat pumped full of antibiotics and hormones (why)? My chickens roam free outdoors and eat the best natural food (how). Would you like them on your table (what)?

Whose chickens would you choose for dinner?

The point is that people don’t buy what you sell. They buy what you believe in. With farmer B, price wouldn’t stop them even if he charged far more than farmer A. Isn’t that every business’s dream?

So, back to the recipe for success. What do you do when money, people and market conditions aren’t on your side? Put your heart into what you believe in and share your dream. If it’s worth following, people will follow you. And THAT is exactly what makes you a leader.

In the video below, Simon Sinek explains his simple model for inspiring leadership, “The Golden Circle,” using examples like Apple, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Wright brothers.