Management theorist Simon Sinek believes that a leader is someone with whom employees feel safe, who creates a circle of trust. Successful leadership is not about power, authority, and influence, but about the ability to inspire. Individuals and entire organizations can achieve exceptional success if they understand why they exist, and employees follow this common idea. One can say that Sinek brings the idea of transformational leadership from a new perspective.
Some leaders and companies are popular and have some success, and some can inspire others and lead. The latter succeeded in doing this because they know why they exist. By asking the question “Why?” and providing a clear answer to it, leaders demonstrate some pattern of behavior for employees or customers, convince them of their rightness, and lead them. They are also, demonstrating the consistency of the goals and values of the organization or brand (Synek, 00:05:00 – 00:08:00). Inspirational leaders create a vision, and this is their main difference from leaders whose influence is based on power and authority – as opposed to purpose and vision, they create rules, procedures, and processes. While processes are certainly important, an organization will not differ with excellence without answering the “why” question. Martin Luther King has amassed tens of thousands of followers because he was able to convey to them the idea of why the fight for civil rights is necessary. Apple has millions of committed customers by creating a clear vision of why they chose namely Apple products. In the context of the above-mentioned, the mission statement of Shipt company can be formulated as follows: “Shipt offers its customers fresh foods and household essentials delivery for enabling the comfort of your life.”
References
Synek, S. (2010). Start with why — how great leaders inspire action. Web.