Video of the Week: Simon Sinek - How Great Leaders Inspire Action

Why has Ad of the Week been replaced by Video of the Week? Just as the Yaffe Group has evolved way beyond an ad agency or even a marketing firm, our popular Ad of the Week blog post is evolving to a video of the week format. So much of what we do has nothing to do with marketing, but is all about helping businesses get better. Therefore, we're going to feature videos that can help your business get better. Sometimes that will be an ad, sometimes an online video and sometimes a great speaker on something your business can use to make it better. Such is the case with today's video.

Today we feature a Ted Talk by Simon Sinek, talking about how great leaders innovate and inspire action. He talks about the psychological and biological reasons we do things and how you can tap into them to motivate the actions you want people to take.

Sinek wrote a book called Start With Why and in this Ted Talk he tells us how using the "why" can make you a great leader and inspire actions. He says the reason we feel comfortable buying MP3 players from Apple and not Dell is because Apple markets with the why and Dell does the more typical "what" marketing. People want to know why you do something, not what you're doing.

Apple has been very good at starting with why their products and their thinking is different before moving out to the how and what they're doing. Most marketers talk about what they're selling and how it's different. That doesn't tap into the emotional triggers that exist within us all.

He goes on to talk about why Martin Luther King Jr. became the leader of the civil rights movement and not one of the others touting the same message. It was about why he did it and why we wanted to be where he was. Sinek also pointed out his speech was "I have a dream" not "I have a plan."

When you're trying to motivate people into action, whether it's your own employees, outside forces or customers/clients, you need to tap into their emotional center and focus on why they should care. Watch this short video and, hopefully, you'll walk away inspired to create some incredible actions of your own.

Ted Talk: Simon Sinek – How Great Leaders Inspire Action

So, what actions did it inspire you to take? And what other videos have you seen that also inspire you to create a stronger, better business? I'd love to hear from you.

Mike McClure, wondering why I hadn't done this sooner