Start with Why: Purpose as a Product Strategy Foundation

TL;DR

Sinek’s “why before what” framework gave me clearer language for something I’ve wrestled with throughout my career: how to align engineering teams around product decisions that feel arbitrary without context. While I’m skeptical of his claims about biology driving behavior, his Golden Circle has become essential scaffolding for how I communicate product strategy and organizational change.

About the Book

Simon Sinek argues that exceptional leaders and organizations inspire action by starting with their fundamental purpose—their “why”—rather than jumping straight to what they do or how they do it. His Golden Circle framework places “why” at the center, surrounded by “how” and “what.” Through examples like Apple’s product launches and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Sinek demonstrates how purpose-driven communication creates deeper loyalty and drives sustainable success. He contends that most organizations communicate from the outside-in (what → how → why) when they should reverse that order, connecting with people’s limbic brain where decisions are actually made.

The book’s central thesis is that people don’t buy what you do—they buy why you do it. Great leaders inspire by giving people a cause to believe in, not just a product to purchase or a job to complete.

Where This Resonates With My Experience

Articulate a Vision & Convey Strategic Intent

Sinek’s core principle resonates directly with two elements of my leadership model. He writes:

“Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do. By WHY I mean your purpose, cause or belief—WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care?”

This gave me language for something I learned the hard way during a major platform migration I led three years ago. I initially communicated the technical requirements and timeline (the “what” and “how”) but struggled to get buy-in from engineering teams who saw it as unnecessary complexity. When I reframed the migration around our fundamental purpose—enabling faster customer value delivery—suddenly the technical tradeoffs made sense. The same engineers who had been resistant became advocates because they understood why the pain was worth it.

I’ve since developed a personal rule: Never announce a major technical decision without first explaining the customer or business outcome it enables. This mps**

Sinek’s emphasis on belief-driven loyalty connects with how I approach team motivation, though I’ve learned his framework works differently at different organizational levels. He notes:

“When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.”

This reinforced something I observed during our AI platform buildout last year. The engineers most excited about the work weren’t motivated by the technical challenge alone—they were energized by our mission to democratize data insights across the organization. When I communicated the “why” (enabling non-technical teams to make data-driven decisions), I saw higher code quality and more proactive problem-solving than when I focused on the machine learning architecture itself.

Reinforce Values

The book’s emphasis on consistency between purpose and action aligns with how I think about organizational integrity. Sinek argues that trust erodes when there’s a gap between stated why and actual behavior. I’ve seen this firsthand when leadership talks about “customer obsession” but consistently deprioritizes user experience fixes for new feature development. The stated purpose becomes cynical if daily decisions contradict it.

Where I Push Back

I’m significantly more skeptical than Sinek about the biological claims underlying his framework. He writes:

“The Golden Circle is grounded in the tenets of biology, not psychology. Our need to belong is not rational, but biological.”

This feels like retrofitting neuroscience to support a business framework. In my experience, the effectiveness of starting with “why” is much simpler: it provides context that helps people make better local decisions. When my engineering teams understand the business outcome we’re driving toward, they make different architectural choices than when they’re optimizing purely for technical elegance.

I’m also cautious about Sinek’s almost mystical treatment of purpose. He suggests that companies with a clear “why” naturally attract the right people and inspire fierce loyalty. I’ve seen too many organizations with compelling missions still struggle with execution, culture, and retention. Purpose is necessary but not sufficient—you still need strong operations, competitive compensation, and clear career development.

The book underplays how “why” can become a constraint. I’ve worked with teams so committed to their original purpose that they couldn’t adapt when market conditions changed. Sometimes the most effective leadership move is updating your “why” rather than doubling down on it.

How This Influenced My Leadership

• I restructured how I present product strategy updates to executive leadership, always opening with customer impact or business outcome before diving into technical implementation details.

• I implemented “purpose audits” during quarterly planning, asking each team to articulate how their roadmap connects to our broader organizational mission—not as busywork, but to surface misalignments early.

• I became more intentional about hiring for mission alignment during senior technical leadership searches, though I balance this against Sinek’s tendency to overweight cultural fit versus competence.

• I adopted his language around “believing versus knowing” when communicating vision to engineering teams, acknowledging uncertainty while maintaining conviction about direction.

Who Should Read This

This book is most valuable for technical leaders who struggle to generate enthusiasm for necessary but unglamorous work—platform migrations, technical debt reduction, security improvements. It’s also essential reading for anyone leading organizational change initiatives where the benefits aren’t immediately obvious to individual contributors. Product managers transitioning into broader leadership roles will find the communication frameworks immediately applicable.

Avoid this book if you’re looking for tactical advice on execution or operations. Sinek focuses heavily on inspiration but provides limited guidance on translating purpose into repeatable processes.

Rating

Moderate Alignment - The Golden Circle framework has become part of my leadership toolkit, but I apply it more tactically than Sinek intends. His biological claims feel overreached, and his examples cherry-pick successful companies while ignoring equally purpose-driven failures. The book’s value lies in its communication framework, not its claims about human nature.