Sunday Inspiration: The Golden Circle

8 July 2012 No Comment

The Golden Circle

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” — William James

According to TED speaker Simon Sinek, “All the great and inspiring leaders and organizations in the world think, act, and communicate in the exact same way.”

Simon calls it The Golden Circle. Inspirational leaders communicate from the inside out – Why, How, and What – because it’s the WHY that matters most!

Simon says “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it!”

The average organization presents itself and communicates from the outside of these three circles inward

What we are …
How we do it …
Why we do it …

But inspired leaders work from the outside in

Why we’re doing this …
How we do it …
What we do as a result …

The “Golden Circle” isn’t just a nifty way to explain inspirational communication. It’s biology.

Your brain is actually built this way, so that on the outer level you’ve got the part of your brain that handles all the logical, rational stuff. This corresponds to the outer “what” and secondary “how” levels of the circle.

Here, people can understand lots of facts and figures. They can evaluate your lists of features and benefits. They can “get” the mechanisms you use to do what you do.

But none of this is tied to action. For that you’ve got to move more toward the limbic center, where your emtions and gut reactions are along with feelings of trust, and maybe most importantly – ACTION.

The limbic center is your “animal” brain. This is where the “why” resides.

In any instance that you have to inspire anybody to do anything, you’ll get a lot farther by simply asking yourself “why” you want the result you’re after … and then making sure it’s a “why” that’s going to feel good to your prospect too.

When you talk about what you believe, you will attract people who believe what you believe.