I heard about the book Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek.  I confess, I have not read this book yet, but here’s what I know about it so far.  It suggests that truly great leaders have one thing in common: They started by asking the question “Why?” as in “why does our organization exist? why do we want to do XYZ?” Then, once you know WHY, asking, “How?” as in “how will we do ABC to achieve that reason why?”  And finally, once you know WHY and HOW, asking “What?” as in “So what?”

Read more about Simon Sinek and the Why/How/What “golden circle,” and watch the YouTube video below.

To me, this sounds like not only a prescription for a good leader, but also a great model for customer service.  We need both in libraries!