TED - How great leaders inspire action

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

A TED talk on how great leaders inspire people to act. Simon Sinek, a marketing consultant, articulates that there are specific qualities of people that make effective leaders and passionate followers. Regarding leaders, he includes both leaders of industry such as Apple and individuals such as the Wright brothers and Martin Luther King Jr. He breaks it down to the What, How, and Why. The Why is the key factor because it allows people to relate to the purpose, while the What and How provides the mechanism that fulfils what we want or need. Most marketing tactics market what a product does. But according to Simon, the Why is what creates followers and the reason we decide to adopt an idea or product. He attributes these decisions down to the primitive parts of the brain, while the more advanced parts of the brain processes the How and What.

People make decisions at different levels. Simon presents the idea of the law of diffusion of innovation to demonstrate where people sit on the scale. Early adopters are those who just get it and are eager to adopt the idea or product. Some people look to the early adopters, and some just don't ever get it. Ultimately, we follow those who lead, because we do it willingly for ourselves.

The most interesting parts of the lecture were the parts regarding the biology behind the reason we make certain decisions and the parts regarding the law of diffusion of innovation. Overall, the lecture was enlightening and curiously relevant. I am keenly interested to see the developments between the ever innovative Apple and the self proclaimed altruistic company Google after watching this TED Talk. Why do the two companies do what they do shall unfold as they're fiercely competing against each other.