Toppling the Cult of Why

Earlier today, I attended an awards ceremony for social impact entrepreneurs in Los Angeles. Every single speaker and awardee alluded to their purpose. A few even urged us to find our ‘why’ and share it with the world.

In my coaching and consulting work with nonprofits and change-makers, clients will often share that they need me to help them find a ‘why’ that will help people get what they do.

It’s proliferating all around me, this Cult of Why.

I don’t have epidemiological data to support this, but I’m guessing that this all started with Simon Sinek’s TED Talk called How Great Leaders Inspire Action.

In case you’re not familiar, the talk introduces a simple concept that Sinek calls the Golden Circle. It looks like this:

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