Soulfood

I have always been a reader. In 2020 I started tracking my reading and I’ve averaged 60+ books a year – moving towards 70 once I started counting audiobooks.

I don’t enjoy consuming visual arts nearly as much. I refuse to watch video news reporting, and most of my time online is spent reading essays on Substack or reading about sporting events. I rarely watch talking heads. It’s just not my thing.

In 2026, my employer initiated a reading club for management and of course I am all in. Our January read was Patrick Lenceoni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. I really appreciated that book and found it valuable in critiquing my own performance as a member of the various teams I am on in my life. I also, as I compare Lenceoni with this month’s book – Start With Why by Simon Sinek – found myself motivated by Lenceoni’s “WHY” in a way that Sinek’s does not do for me.

Sinek got off to a poor start with me in propagating the Enlightenment myth of ignorant folks who believed the earth was flat. The historical record simply doesn’t support this myth, and his use of it to explain the expansion of trade around the world upon the “discovery” that the world is round isn’t necessary at all. There are many competing, and more compelling, explanations as to why exploration of the seas and what lay beyond the world known to Mediterranean-centered cultures exploded in the 15th century. His WHY is demonstrably false and unnecessary. But it sounds so good! I understand why atheists love their mythology. It makes perfect sense.

So that was strike one. (For the record, Sinek didn’t strike out in my estimation – but he had a lot of work to do to get out of the 0-2 hole he started in, and the result of his AB, to follow the metaphor to its bloody end, was more like a productive out than an RBI.)

Strike two was his dismissal of the gut as a decision-making driver. Recent research has shown what humans have intuited for as long as we have recorded history – the cluster of nerves near the stomach does indeed have great influence on the workings of the brain in our skulls. To be fair to Sinek, much of this evidence has been established since he wrote Start With Why in 2009. But his rather arrogant dismissal of any possibility that “gut instincts” have anything to do with our physical guts is indicative of his worldview, which is best described as scientism. Scientism assumes scientists always know best, even when scientists have yet to examine all the evidence available (which is a lot!).

For all that, I did find the book helpful in understanding how organizations (and individuals) thrive when Sinek’s Golden Circle is in balance. The Golden Circle has the WHY (your reason for existence) in the center, with the HOW (your methods of applying your reason to the way you live) in the next ring, and the WHAT (the results of the HOW applied to the WHY) in the outermost ring.

Sinek became famous with his TED talk on the Golden Circle idea he developed. I don’t seek out TED talks, though I’ve seen a few of them. They always struck me as sermons for secular folks. I don’t need secular sermons, I’m blessed by the pastors in my life who do such an excellent job presenting the Word to me that I don’t need a supplement (and certainly am not looking for a replacement).

Sinek’s thesis is that companies that start with WHY and stay focused on WHY are most likely to succeed. Remembering who you are as an organization ensures that the HOW and WHAT are positioned for success. And when success in the HOW and WHAT comes, maintaining the urgency of the WHY sustains success and allows for healthy growth.

All that got me thinking about the WHY of my life, because I see this as applicable to individuals as well. (It’s possible Sinek has developed this application himself in other publications, but I am not aware of them at this time.) My WHY is to glorify the triune God and enjoy Him forever. That is the vision of my life, the driving purpose. I am constantly working to orient myself to that purpose, as best I can.

Every morning I read texts that ground me in my WHY. At least once a week I hear a sermon that helps me remember my WHY and think about the HOW and WHAT. I frequently attend meetings to work out the HOW and WHAT during which we keep the WHY in focus. When I listen to podcasts, choose what essays to read, pick books to listen to or read, etc, they are informed by my WHY and often help me with the HOW. And I spend my time with people who are the WHAT.

The reason I found Lenceoni’s WHY more compelling compared to Sinek’s is easy when you compare the acknowledgements at the end of their respective books. But also, as a reader I thought Lenceoni’s book was more succinct and to the point. Sinek’s book had so much filler, I skimmed most of it looking for the payoff quotes and I’m pretty sure he could have covered all the same ground in half the words. I spent a total of 2 hours reading the 230ish pages. There was too much unnecessary repetition. Just my humble opinion. Maybe I should have watched the TED talk instead!

Anyways, I’m looking forward to the March book, Steven Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In the meantime, I’m going to try for a bonus book – It’s Your Ship by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff. We will see what I see!