When companies talk about WHAT they do and how advanced their products are, these things may appeal to us, but they do not necessarily represent something to which we want to belong. But when a company clearly communicates their WHY, what they believe, and if we believe what they believe, then we will sometimes go to great lengths to include those

Ballmer might be the perfect man to work alongside a visionary, but is he the perfect man to replace one?

We make decisions all day long, and many of them are emotionally driven. Rarely do we sift through all the available information to ensure we know every fact. And we don’t need to. It is all about degrees of certainty.

The reason the company was floundering was not that it grew too fast, but that Schultz had not properly infused his WHY into the organization so that the organization could manage the WHY without him.

for almost every other product or service on the market today, business-to-consumer or business-to-business. They focus on WHAT they do and HOW they do it without consideration of WHY; we lump them together and treat them like commodities. And the more we treat them like commodities, the more they focus on WHAT and HOW they do it. It’s a vicious

The company once renowned for how it treated employees and customers has been scandal-ridden for nearly a decade. Nearly every scandal has centered on how poorly they treat their customers and their employees. As of December 2008, Wal-Mart faced seventy-three class-action lawsuits related to wage violations and has already paid hundreds of millions

We’ve succeeded as a species because of our ability to form cultures. Cultures are groups of people who come together around a common set of values and beliefs. When we share values and beliefs with others, we form trust. Trust allows us to rely on others to help protect our children and ensure our personal survival.

Apple actually communicates. This time, the example starts with WHY. Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user-friendly. And we happen to make great computers. Wanna buy one?

Just because Apple’s WHY is so clear does not mean everyone is drawn to it. Some people like them and some don’t. Some people embrace them and some are repelled by them. But it cannot be denied: they stand for something. The Law of Diffusion says that only 2.5 percent of the population has an innovator mentality—they are a group of people willing