Why?

Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

A buddy of mine owns a couple of restaurants around the greater Atlanta.  An acquaintance of mine has a government contracting business.  A good friend of mine has a successful law firm.  I’ve had conversations with each of them, on this very topic: what is brand?  Not what you do, e.g. restauranteur, dentist, etc., but what is your brand.  From Simon’s brilliant talk, that question can be rephrased to What’s your Why?

Answering to this question can separate one from its competition.  The moment the question answered that, suddenly commodity transcended.  It’s no longer an another restaurant or another law firm.  Customers and clients are loyal not because of the What offering, but what it’s stands for, or the Why.

On an unrelated note: do you know where franchising comes from?  I didn’t know either: