Start With Why

Start With Why:

How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.

| Author: Simon Sinek, 2009 |

This book was so fitting for me at the time when my late cousin Rudy Gheysen recommended it to me. Rudy knew the struggle I was having finding purpose in my career, and this book helped me uncover it.

One simple takeaway from this book - you have to know your why first, then the how and the what will become clear. When, and only when you understand your why, will people follow you and support you.

Simon has made a great impact on some simple concepts, that make so much sense. The amazing part is that many leaders invest in complicated, costly fixes, while overlooking simple concepts that can have a lasting impact on their company.

When you know your why, that structure drives the focus on your purpose. This leads to focusing on people, and not the numbers. With a pure vision you will - build trust, invest in your people, and take care of your people knowing they will take care of the company. Although this does not give immediate returns, they will be sustained, and in fact, can last a lifetime if you are truly living by your why. Great leaders have the ability to find great fits for their organization. A company is unstoppable, when the why is clear, and the team is united.

Without trust, people will not take risks. The structure of a “culture of fear” drives people to look after their own interests instead of the whole of the group. Focusing on the budget, instead of the people, will only lead to short term gains. Trust allows us to rely on others. If you feel protected, it allows you to focus on the issues at hand for the company, and not worry about how it will make others feel.

These concepts have become the foundations for Manufacturing Greatness and building a positive culture. Without a foundation of why, a vision, a purpose, you can never reach the true potential of your organization. This is because focusing on the potential of your people, and walking through these steps becomes imperative.

In sadness, Rudy never got a chance to read my review, but he knows the impact he had on my life. I really miss his mentoring and friendship. Thanks Rudy for doing as Simon says, and passing it on to someone searching for their why. Life gets better, when you get better, and finding your why is key.

Reviewed by: Trevor Blondeel

Mindfulness Manufacturing

Our show is about providing listeners with real stories that come from a place of experience, transparency, and authenticity. Most importantly it’s about what we learn from these stories and applying Mindfulness in our everyday work and personal lives.
Our intention is to create an environment where people can learn through open honest discussions on how we apply Mindfulness. Although our experiences and stories come from time in a manufacturing environment hence the title “Mindfulness Manufacturing”, we still see our discussions and topics relatable to any organization or profession.

When a mistake occurs on the plant floor, your mind might jump to one question: who caused this issue, and should I write them up for their mistake? But there’s a more productive approach you could be taking—and in this episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing, guest Dr. Jake Mazulewicz breaks it all down!

With a background as a firefighter, EMT, and military paratrooper, Jake knows the challenges of high-hazard industries, and works with organizations to reduce errors and create safer, more reliable workplace environments. In this episode, Jake shares why you can’t procedularize everything, including the way you handle errors and accidents, and offers great insights and stories about how to use connection and curiosity to improve safety, address errors, and strengthen your organization.

3:35 – Procedures and policies are the work that is imagined, and on the floor is how the work actually gets done

4:19 – The work as-done is almost always radically different than the work as-imagined

5:20 – Even when you have standards and people show up wanting to do a good job, you can still see issues that need to be addressed

6:44 – There will always be areas that absolutely need to have procedures in place

8:02 – There are also adaptive jobs, which leans less into procedures and more intro troubleshooting and tacit human knowledge

10:56 – In an ideal environment, both mechanistic and adaptive models are used and respected and needed

12:11 – There are four levels, ranging from strict procedurals to looser guidelines that show what to do, but not how to do it

15:36 – Tacit knowledge gets shared through conversations

16:22 – A way to share important information is to have frontline experts record videos sharing their insights to problems, especially those that are not covered in procedures

19:44 – Through conversation and connection, more knowledge is shared

21:58 – Debriefing also plays a central role

23:45 – If you have strong discipline, you’ll find more freedom

25:31 – In most situations, errors are signals, not defects

27:07 – When an error occurs, be curious and find the deeper cause of the problem

Connect with Jake Mazulewicz

Find him on Linkedin

Visit his website