Start With Why video – Workbook

Please work your way through the questions below, and we'll use this information to create the foundation for your video. If at any point you truly feel stuck my personal cell phone number is 404.983.5417

I truly believe this process will not only form the basis for a video with the power to move people, but will also provide new insight into your company.

      -- Daniel

Step 1 of 2

50%

  • The boring stuff...

    (1 minute)


  • Let the fun begin!

    (video + 15 minutes)

  • Please begin by watching this short Ted Talk by business consultant Simon Sinek. This specific video won him a contract with the Pentagon and several think tanks. It is one of the most insightful proposals I have ever heard, and I have received thank you emails from nearly every executive I have shared it with.



    Exercise 1 (15 minutes): In the text box below, start each line with “I believe...” and write out a list of the beliefs you have regarding your organization. They can be grand, deeply-held beliefs (one of mine was “I believe it is best to give value first and last.”) or they can be small, practical beliefs (another was “I believe DSLRs are the best cameras for most professional video recording situations.”). Both big and small, the important thing here is to get a comprehensive set of your beliefs on paper. I ended up with more than a page of them.

    Also in this exercise I would recommend what Mark Levy refers to as "free writing." Write quickly. Write honestly. Feel free to put a (confidential) tag at the beginning of a line if it's internal-speak. Sometimes it takes revealing the deep beliefs we can't share in order to discover the beliefs we should share.

    A couple parting idea starters before you begin:
    What injustice are you striving to right?
    Who are you standing up for that nobody else is?

  • Please list all that you can possibly think of.


  • Now is the time that if we were together I'd give you a pat on the back, so feel free to give yourself one. It's no easy task to take such deeply felt beliefs and try to find finite words to contain them. The good news is, if you feel these things, the people you want to work with will too.

    We'll use this list to help identify which of these beliefs make your organization unique. Take the first example above for instance “I believe it is best to give value first and last.” This is a core belief that defines me and my company at a visceral level. If a lead doesn’t share this belief to at least some degree, I don’t want them as a client.

    Now let's jump to the final page where we'll answer the easier questions of "how" and "what."