Motivation or Herding Cats the Choice is Yours

7.15.2020 Jonathan Biles Blog Motivation

With my experience in The U.S. Navy and the many managerial jobs I’ve held over the past has given me plenty of chances to deal with motivation. I can’t even count the many classes and books that tackled the subject of motivation within a group or corporation. I am curious if Sinek has a different take on the topic.

He doesn’t disappoint by starting this chapter a little different than most of the books I’ve read. Typically, motivation books starts with the individual and understanding what they need in order to properly get their butts in gear. Sinek, however, makes the statement that you can’t motivate anyone without first establishing trust. And no, you don’t establish trust through a regular paycheck. It is more than that.

Motivation is not in your operational ability.

In my last job, we actively tracked a vast amount of metrics. For those who don’t know, a metric is a measurement over time of a specific act or action. Those metrics determined next courses of action as well as acted as a base for promotion analysis. While this worked for management, it was not a good source of motivation and Sinek explains why.

For a leader to truly inspire and motivate their following, people must understand their motivation behind their actions. If a manager only wants to look good in front of her boss to get the next promotion, then her subordinates won’t care much about their personal performance. However, if she desires positive results for the good of the group’s reputation, then the group understands her motivation. If a leader has a Why that their team can get behind, then the metrics become irrelevant to motivation.

Real life application

Let’s break this down to your everyday life. Forget work, but let’s talk about your circle of influence. When we tell people we are motivated by money, fame, or other reasons that have no depth behind it, then it is difficult for people to get behind your cause. Go ahead and challenge me. Look at Go Fund Me pages and see what causes get the most results. Is it the ones motivated to make money? Or is it the pages with the best story? Find your Why and talk about it. People will naturally fall in line with you.

Are you reading along with me? I would love to know. Send me a message and we can discuss the chapters further as we go down this journey of discovery.


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