How do you explain when things don’t go as we assumed, or better. How do you explain when others are able to achieve things seems as all of these assumption. For example, why is apple so innovative year after year after year after year. They are more innovative than all competitors, and yet they are just computer company. They are just like anyone else. They have the same access the same talent, the agency, the consultant, the same media. Then why is that they seem to have something different. Why is that Martin Luther King led the civil right movement. He wasn’t the only man who suffered discrimination in American. And certainly he wasn’t only the orator at the moment of the day. Why him, and why is that the Wright Brothers were able to figure out control power man flight. When there were certainly other teams with qualified better funded and they didn’t achieve power man flight. But brothers beat them. There are something play here.
This discovery profoundly change my view on how I thought the world work and even profoundly change the way in which I operate it. As it turns out there’s a pattern, as it turns out all the great and inspired leaders and or organizations in the world whatever it’s. Apple or Martin Luther King or Wright Brothers. They all think act and communicate in exact same way. And it’s complete opposite to everyone else. All I did is codified. And it’s probably the world simplest idea. I call it THE GOLDEN CIRCLE.
This little idea explains why some organizations and leaders are able to inspire people. Let me divine the terms very quickly. Every single person every single organization in the planet knows what they do, one hundred percent. Some know how they do it. Well you call it you differentiating propositions or your proprietary process. USP( United States Patent). But very very few people or organizations know why they do what they do and by why. I don’t mean to make a profit. That is result. That’s always result. By why I mean what is your purpose. What’s your cause. What’s your belief. Why is the organization exist. Why do you get out the bed at the morning. Why should anyone care. As the result, that the way we think, the way we communicate is from the outside in, it’s obvious we go from the clear thing to the fuzzy thing. But the inspired leader and inspired organizations, regardless of their size, regardless of their industry, all think act communicate from the inside out. For example, I use Apple because it’s easy to understand and everybody gets it. If Apple were like anyone else, a marketing message from them might sound this:
- We make great computers.
- They’re beautiful design, simple to use and user friendly.
- Wanna buy one?
……nope
That’s how most of us communicate. That’s how most marketing done. That’s how most sales done, and that how most of us communicate into personally. We say what we do, we say how we different or how we better, we expect some sort of behavior, purchase, votes, something like that. Here is our new law firm. We have best lawyers, biggest client. You know we always perform for our client do business. Here is our new car, great gas, leather seat~ Buy a car? But it’s uninspiring.
Here is how Apple actual communicate:
- Everything we do we believe in changing the status quo.
- We believe in thinking differently.
- The way we changing the status quo is by making our products beautifully design, simple to use and user friendly.
- We just happened to make great computers.
- Wanna buy one?
Totally different right? You’re ready to buy a computer from me. All I did just reverse the order of information, it prove to us is that people don’t buy what you do, people buy why you do it. This explains why every single person in this room feels perfectly of buying a computer from Apple. But we’re also feel comfortably of buying a mp3 player from Apple or a phone from Apple or a DVR from Apple. But as i said before, Apple is just a computer company, there’s nothing that distinguish them structurally from their competitors, Their competitors are all equal qualified to make all these products. In fact, they’ve tried.
Few years ago, Gateway came out with flat a screen TV. They are qualified to make that they have made flat screen monitors for years, nobody bought one. And Dell, Dell came out with the MP3 Players and PDAs, and they made great qualified products, and they can make perfectly well-design products, and nobody bought one. In fact, talking about it now, we can’t even imagine buying a MP3 from Dell. Why would you buy a MP3 player from a computer company, but we do it every day.
People don’t buy what you do, they buy why do it. The goal is not to do business with anybody who needs what you have, the goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.
Here is the best part. None of what i’m telling is my opinion, is all grounded of biology. Not psychology, is biology. If you look at the across sector of human brain, looking from the topdown, what you see is the human brain actually broke into 3 major components, but perfectly with THE GOLDEN CIRCLE.
Our new brain, the 大脑皮层 is responsible for our rational and analytical thought and language. The middle two sections make up our brain, and brain are responsible for our feelings, like trust and loyalty, is also responsible for all human behavior, all decision making, and has no capacity for language. In their words, when we communicate from the outside in, Yes, people can understand vast amount of complicated information like features and benefits and figures and facts, but doesn’t drive behavior. When we communicate from the inside out, we are talking directly to the part of the brain that controls behavior, and then we allow people to rationalize it will the tangible things we say and do. This’s where we got decision come from. You know, you can give somebody the facts and figures and we’ll say, i know all the facts and details, say but it just doesn’t feel right. Why do we use that it doesn’t feel right. Because the part of the brain doesn’t control decision making, doesn’t control language, and the best we can drop up is i don’t know it doesn’t just feel right or some time you just leading with your heart, leading with your soul. I hate to break it. There’s other body part controlling your behavior, it’s all happening here in your 边脑. The part of brain controls your decision making and not language. But if you don’t know why you do what you do and people response why you do what you do, then how you get people to vote for you to buy something from you. Or more importantly be loyal and wanna be a part of these what you do. Again, the good is not just sale to people who need what you have, to sale people who believe what you believe. The good isn’t just hire people who need a job, is to hire people who believe what you believe. I always say that if you hire people just because they do a job work for your money, but if you hire people who believe what you believe, they work for you with blood sweat and tear.
People don’t buy what you do buy why you do it, and if you talk about what you believe you will attract those who believe what you believe, but why is it important to attract those who believe what you believe. Something call the Law diffusion innovation.
If you don’t know the law, you definitely know the terminology. The first 2.5% our population are our innovators, the next 13.5% of our population are early adopters. The next 34% are early majority and late majority and laggers. The only reason people buy touch phone because they can’t buy wheel phone anymore. We all set at the various seat at various time, the law of diffusion innovation tell us, is that if you want mass market success, or mass market accept an idea you can not have it until you achieve the tipping point between 15% and 18% market penetration and then the systems tips, and I love asking business, what is your conversion on our business. They love to say Oh! it’s about 10% proudly. Well you can attract 10% customers. We’ll have about 10% who just get it, that’s how we describe then. That’s like they got feeling or the just get it, the problem is how do you find they just get it before you doing business with them and those who don’t get it. So is here, those little gap that you have to close, because you see the early majority will not try something until someone else has tried it first, and these guys the early innovators and early adopters are comfortable making decisions. They are comfortable making those into decision that are driven by they believe about the world and not just product is available. These are the people who start a line for 6 hours to buy an iPhone when they first came out. You can just walk into the store and then bought one of the shelf. These are the people who spent $40000 on flat screen TV when they first came out even though the technology was unstandardized. By the way they didn’t do it because the technology was so great. They did it for themselves. It’s because they wanted to be first. People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe. In fact, they would do the things that proves what you believe. The reason that they bought the iPhone in the first 6 hours was because what they believe about the world they want everybody see them they were first.
People don’t buy what you do buy why you do it.
Those who lead inspire us, whether they are individual or organizations. We follow those who lead not because we have to but because we want to, we follow these who lead, not for them but for ourselves, and it’s those start with “Why” that has the ability to inspire those around them or find others who inspire them.
