I have been lucky enough to be working on a unique Pollenizer business; a business that has significantly more branding and real world focus than most of our past portfolio. As a result, I have spent much of the last month critiquing packaging design, understanding the science behind branding, and discovering the real world emotional triggers that grab us and make us fall in love with certain brands unconditionally.

I recently discovered a Ted Talk  by Simon Sinek (a renowned author on effective leadership and change) called Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action. Simon discusses why some people or why some brands are able to achieve things that defy all the normal assumptions, whilst others achieve nothing. For example; Why is Apple so innovative? With the same access to talent, consultants, capital, agencies and media, why is it that they seem to have something different (Nb. Apple is but one of the many examples that Simon addresses, but for the sake of simplicity I have chosen to make Apple my focus). Mr Sinek believes there is a pattern that can be found between all the “great and inspiring leaders of the world” – a pattern he has codified as The Golden Circle.

The Golden Circle:

“Every organisation on the planet knows WHAT they do, some know HOW they do it, but very very few know WHY they do what they do”.

The definition of WHY: WHY is about your purpose, your cause and your belief. Why does your organisation exist? / Why do you get out of bed every morning? / My favourite one is… Why should anyone care?

The Golden Circle explains that the normal way of thinking is from the outside in:
WHAT – Here is our new car.
HOW – Our new car achieves great mileage and has a top speed of X km/h
WHY – Go buy our new car and you will be satisfied.

However the inspiring leaders of the world start from the inside and gravitate outwards. Once again using Apple as an example:
WHY – Everything we do is about challenging the status quo
HOW – We do this by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly
WHAT – We happen to make computers. Would you like to buy one?

PEOPLE DO NOT BUY WHAT YOU DO, THEY BUY WHY YOU DO IT.