Why?

When I went to hear Mr. Lemnios, the CEO of Sun Coffee, give a talk at Rose House, I thought that most of the talk would be about coffee and its production. Well, a significant portion was, but I appreciated that Mr. Lemnios also discussed being an entrepreneur in general. One of the aspects of the talk that stood out to me the most was how he stressed the importance of having ideals as the key motivating factors for what you do. He showed us part of a TedX presentation video titled “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” done by Simon Sinek. In the video, one of the examples used was Apple. Mr. Sinek pointed out that Apple puts the question of “why?” at the heart of their design implementation. Indeed, for Sun Coffee, Mr. Lemnios put the answers to this question at the heart of his company by making it part of Sun Coffee’s mission to give back to the community and leave a small footprint. I believe this can be applied to all aspects of life, not just entrepreneurship. If we really ask ourselves “why?” we pursue certain goals, I believe the answers to this question can motivate us to achieve them. If we have strong ideals behind us, the path ahead is clearer.

One thought on “Why?

  1. Do you plan on specifically looking for products that are mission-driven for your next trip to the grocery store or such? I think Mr. Lemnios was very convincing and passionate about having informed consumers and ensuring that his coffee benefit all parts of the supply chain. I want to also look for similar products that are mission-driven but I think it is going to be hard for me because I am already in a set routine. Changing things is going to be hard but I think small steps are crucial.