What is your WHY?

‘The Golden Circle’ – the answer on why some of us are better than others

Why are some companies greater than others? Why are some brands more innovative? Why are some leaders more inspiring? Why are some people and organizations just more successful than others?

Simon Sinek found his answer to this question and described it in his book ‘Start with Why’.  He studied winning leaders and organizations, like Martin Luther King Jr. and American Express, to find out what they are doing different to the mediocre rest. His solution is his model of ‘The Golden Circle’, and Studio Beer is using this knowledge.

But let me first explain the model itself: Sinek’s model consists of three circles, surrounding each other. The outer circle is about the ‘What’, followed by the ‘How’ and the core is made up by the ‘Why’.

‘What’ – This is what is known by everyone. ‘What are we doing?’ A car dealer is selling cars and a president is leading his country.

‘How’ – The second circle is about the ‘How’. ‘How are we doing, what we are doing?’

A car dealer is selling his car via a convincing personal sales pitch that responses to the wishes of the customer, a helpful and easy obtainable customer and repair service and many more aspects. Many think that this is what makes us special and better than our competition. This circle is already less known by everyone or every member of a company.

‘Why’ – the innerest circle is about the purpose; our believes. ‘Why are we doing what we are doing?’ Just a view people are really aware of this. What is the actual intent of our behavior? Why does a company even exist?  To come back to our example of the car dealer: “A great car dealer is operating to give his customers an option for motion. This means to give them a car that fits their needs and wishes, and offer them services that support a easier or continues use of this option.”

Many people mistake making profit or a great strategy for the purpose of a company or person. Profits are of course important. They are the basic to secure continued operation (in most cases). But profits themselves are the result of truly great operation, never the purpose to do so.

After we got a greater understanding of every level of his circle, Sinek explains what the mistake of most marketing agencies, companies, brands and people is: Many of us start with the outers circle; with the what. We tell our customers, employees and intended followers first, what we are doing, then how we are doing it, and most of the time even forget to tell why are we doing what we are doing. We think, behave and communicate from the outside in and expect that our customers will buy from us because of what we offer or how we offer it, or our intended followers will listen and respect us because of what we do and how we do it.

Though, people are thinking differently, and this is what Sinek and Studio Beer understood. People are not buying a screw driller because of its endless accumulator retention or fancy wide variety of boring bits. They buy a screw driller to get a simple hole in their wall. All before named features are very useful and can make the screwing experience more pleasant, but the customer’s actual need is just to get a hole in their wall.

Studio Beer saw the successful structure of ‘The Golden Circle’, which is based on general human decision making, and integrated it in their working style. Though, Studio Beer even goes one step further. Before they start with the ‘Why’, they discover the ‘Who’. ‘Who are you as company or brand?’ Because how is one able to say why, how or what he is doing, when one does not even know who he is. What is the underlying character or identity of your organization or brand that basically steers every decision that’s made?

Studio Beer discovers this ‘Who’, the core values of a company or brand, with its ‘Sense Storm’. From this point they develop the brand pyramid  with a company’s vision and mission as a base.

The vision then starts with Sinek’s ‘Why’. How does the market look in 5-10 years, and what position do you take with your company or brand in there? With what purpose are you operating? The thereon building mission stands for the ‘How’. How do you realize the preceding vision? Only with these things in mind Studio Beer is able to create a ‘What’, a companies offer that really meets the needs and wishes of the company’s or brand’s customers.

Studio Beer believes that great companies, brands and people think alike, behave and communicate starting from the ‘Why’. Because only the ‘Why’ lets us understand and therefore lets us be inspired and be loyal towards some brands, companies or leaders compared to others.

So who are you? Why do you exist? Do you know? I am curious about any answer and about the inner circle of your organization, brand or personality.

Author: Wiebke, Kasper, Top Class International Marketing, Hoge School Utrecht

Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVnN4S52F3k
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples/best-examples-of-a-vision-statement.html