Have you ever experienced disappointment because you were not able to achieve something while watching someone or some group harvesting it seemingly as easy as picking low hanging fruits from a tree? Despite of the same resources that you have, same talent and ability, same government, etc., why is it that some are more successful than others?
True Leaders Inspire
I was so obsessed to know what’s in there that holds others back to attain the results that they want until I stumbled upon this great book Start with WHY by Simon Sinek. He discussed in the book why Apple is so innovative? Why are they more innovative year after year, after year, than all their competitors? And yet, they are just a computer company. They’re just like everyone else. They have the same access to the same talents, the same agencies, the same consultants, the same media. Then why is it that they seem to have something different?
Also, he discussed why Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights Movement (the civil rights movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for Black Americans to gain equal rights under the law in the United States)? Yet he wasn’t the only man who suffered in pre-civil rights America, and certainly not the only great orator during that time. Why him?
Simon also mention about why the Wright brothers were able to figure out controlled, powered man flight when there were certainly other team such as that of Samuel Pierpoint Langley whose team were better equipped, better qualified, better funded – but were unable to fly a man powered machine which the Wright brothers, with no fund, no education, no qualification whatsoever, were able to beat them to it. What could have been the missing piece that the Orville and Wilbur was able to harness that Langley failed to?
The Secret Pattern
Simon Sinek, made a discovery a few years ago that profoundly changed his view about how he thought that world worked, and it even profoundly change the way he operates in it that made him to be a successful man, all because of this pattern that he discovered. Yes, there is a pattern. As it turns out, all the great leaders and organizations in the world whether it’s Apple, or Matin Luther King, or Wright brothers, they all think, act and communicate the exact same way. And it’s the complete opposite to everyone else – including me & you!
And it was codified by Simon and is probably, according to him, the world’s simplest idea. He called it The Golden Circle. And obviously, that’s where I got the inspiration for naming our group The Golden circle.
This amazing little idea is what explains why some organizations and some leaders are able to inspire where others aren’t. Let me try to explain the idea. Everyone of us, every single organization on the planet knows WHAT they do, right? That’s a 100 percent fact. Some know HOW they do it. This maybe your differentiated value or your USP or simply your process of doing WHAT you do. But very, very few people or organization know WHY they do what they do. And by WHY, it doesn’t refer to making money because that’s a result (WHAT). By WHY, it means: What is your purpose? What’s your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care?
As a result, the way we think, act, and communicate is from the OUTSIDE in obviously – from the clearest thing to the fuzziest thing. But the inspired leaders and organizations – regardless of their size, regardless of the industry – all think, act, and communicate from the INSIDE out.
As an example, Simon uses Apple many times in the book because probably it’s easy to understand and a lot of people can relate to it. Listen to this, if Apple is like everyone else, their marketing message should sound something like: “We make great computers. They are beautifully designed, simple to use and are user friendly. Want buy?” Sad to say, that’s how most of us communicate, right? That’s how 97% of marketing and sales are done, that’s how we communicate interpersonally. We say WHAT we do, then we say HOW we’re better or different and we expect some sort of behavior, may it be a purchase in case of sales, a vote in case of politicians or leaders, and many others. “Here’s our new insurance policy
. We have the greatest benefits and protections. We got you covered. Come and avail our newest insurance policy.” “Here’s our new car: it gets great mileage; it has leather seats. Buy our car.”But it’s uninspiring.
Start with WHY
Let’s see how Apple communicates: “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 are user friendly. We just happened to make great computers. Want to buy one?”
Totally different, right? If you have the money right now, you probably are rushing to hand me over your hard-earned money. And what they did is the simply reversed the order of information. From outside in, they made it from inside out. What this proves is that people don’t buy what you do; people buy WHY you do it.
Now I know why millions of people are so confident buying Apple products. Apple is just a computer company just like many others, but we are also comfortable buying phones, MP3’s, tablets, and other gadgets from them. Right now, they also ventured to other products such as smart watches, home entertainment, home safety and security, even home comfort. Many companies actually attempted such act but failed to succeed. One of which was Dell who attempted to make MP3’s and PDAs or Smart Phones and they are extremely qualified to do so and have made excellent products – but no one bought of it! People say why the hell am I going to buy MP3’s from a computer company? But we are actually doing it every day!
"People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it."
Golden Circel Vs. Human Brain
And the best part about this idea is that it wasn’t all Simon Sinek’s plain opinion. It is grounded in the tenets of biology. If you look at the cross-section of a human brain, from the top down, the human brain is actually broken into 3 major components that correlate exactly with the golden circle. Our newest brain, the neocortex, corresponds with the WHAT level. The neocortex is responsible for all of our rational and analytical though and language. The two middle sections correspond to our limbic brains, the limbic brains are responsible for all our feelings, like trust and loyalty. It’s also responsible for all human behavior, all decision-making, and it has no capacity for language.
In other words, when we communicate from the outside in, yes, people can understand vast amounts of complicated information like features and benefits and facts and figures. It just doesn’t drive behavior. When we can communicate from the inside out, we’re talking directly to the part of the brain that controls behavior, and then we allow people to rationalize it with the tangible things we say and do. This is where gut decisions come from. Sometimes you can give somebody all the facts and figures, and they say, “I know what all the facts and details say, but it just doesn’t feel right.” Why would we use that verb, it doesn’t “feel” right? Because the part of the brain that controls decision-making doesn’t control language. The best we can muster up is, “I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right.” Or sometimes you say you’re leading with your heart or soul. I hate to break it to you; those aren’t other body parts controlling your behavior. It’s all happening here in your limbic brain, the part of the brain that controls decision-making and not language.
But if you don’t know why you do what you do, and people respond to why you do what you do, then how will you ever get people to vote for you, or buy something from you, or, more importantly, be loyal and want to be a part of what it is that you do. The goal is not just to sell to people who need what you have; the goal is to sell to people who believe what you believe. The goal is not just to hire people who need a job; it’s to hire people who believe what you believe. I always say that, you know, if you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money, but if they believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears. Nowhere else is there a better example than with the Wright brothers.
The First Human Flight
Most people don’t know about Samuel Pierpont Langley. And back in the early 20th century, the pursuit of powered man flight was like the dot com of the day. Everybody was trying it. And Samuel Pierpont Langley had, what we assume, to be the recipe for success. Even now, you ask people, “Why did your product or why did your company fail?” and people always give you the same permutation of the same three things: under-capitalized, the wrong people, bad market conditions. It’s always the same three things, so let’s explore that. Samuel Pierpont Langley was given 50,000 dollars by the War Department to figure out this flying machine. Money was no problem. He held a seat at Harvard and worked at the Smithsonian and was extremely well-connected; he knew all the big minds of the day. He hired the best minds money could find and the market conditions were fantastic. The New York Times followed him around everywhere, and everyone was rooting for Langley. Then how come we’ve never heard of Samuel Pierpont Langley?
A few hundred miles away in Dayton, Ohio, Orville and Wilbur Wright, they had none of what we consider to be the recipe for success. They had no money; they paid for their dream with the proceeds from their bicycle shop. Not a single person on the Wright brothers’ team had a college education, not even Orville or Wilbur. And The New York Times followed them around nowhere.
The difference was, Orville and Wilbur were driven by a cause, by a purpose, by a belief. They believed that if they could figure out this flying machine, it’ll change the course of the world. Samuel Pierpont Langley was different. He wanted to be rich, and he wanted to be famous. He was in pursuit of the result. He was in pursuit of the riches. And lo and behold, look what happened. The people who believed in the Wright brothers’ dream worked with them with blood and sweat and tears. The others just worked for the paycheck. They tell stories of how every time the Wright brothers went out, they would have to take five sets of parts, because that’s how many times they would crash before supper.
And, eventually, on December 17th, 1903, the Wright brothers took flight, and no one was there to even experience it. We found out about it a few days later. And further proof that Langley was motivated by the wrong thing: the day the Wright brothers took flight, he quit. He could have said, “That’s an amazing discovery, guys, and I will improve upon your technology,” but he didn’t. He wasn’t first, he didn’t get rich, he didn’t get famous, so he quit.
People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. If you talk about what you believe, you will attract those who believe what you believe.
Welcome to The Golden Circle
And that’s the reason why we created this group, The Golden Circle. (Isn’t it a perfect name for a group of positive like-minded people?) And if you have read this far, something has probably awakened within you, or just like me, it’s like a button was pushed that inspired me to do things by starting with WHY. I am a USANA independent business owner, and this Golden Circle Principle has inspired me so much that it led me to creating this webpage. I want to be able to share this principle to my team mates and to everyone who wants to somehow have a breakthrough in their lives.
What we did was we first identified our team’s values and beliefs and the top 4 were teamwork, leadership, excellence, and health. With this, we came up with our Golden Circle Statement:
“We believe that with the right mindset and wellbeing, everyone can achieve their maximum potential, to live life to its fullest and be an inspiration to others.”
“We are committed in building a community that helps and equips people to become confident in facing challenges, overcoming their fears, and therefore, live a better life.”
“We offer the highest quality nutritional supplements of USANA Health Sciences to help support and maintain one’s optimal health – physically, mentally, socially, emotionally, and spiritually.”
And if you believe what we believe, we highly encourage you to be part of our team, be inspired and be someone to eventually inspire others as well. Go ahead and subscribe to our newsletter if you want to connect with us and discover to yourself the things that you can unleash and be the best version of YOU.
