The Golden Circle
"Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action" (2009)
Simon Sinek is a British-American author and motivational speaker. His 2009 TED Talk "How Great Leaders Inspire Action" is the third most-watched TED Talk of all time with over 60 million views.
Most organizations communicate from the outside in, they start with WHAT they do, then explain HOW they do it, and rarely get to WHY. But the most inspiring leaders and organizations think, act, and communicate from the inside out. They start with WHY.
"People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it."
— Simon Sinek
The Golden Circle is a framework for understanding how inspiring leaders and organizations communicate. It consists of three concentric circles:
Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? Why should anyone care? This is not about making money, that's a result. WHY is about your purpose, cause, or belief. It's the reason your organization exists beyond just making a profit.
How do you do what you do? These are your differentiating value propositions, your proprietary processes, or your unique selling points. HOWs are often given to explain how something is different or better. They are not as powerful as WHYs.
What do you do? Every organization knows WHAT they do. These are the products you sell or the services you offer. WHATs are easy to identify and easy to communicate, but they are the least inspiring.
Sinek uses Apple as the quintessential example of a company that starts with WHY:
| Most Companies (Outside-In) |
Apple (Inside-Out) |
|---|---|
| WHAT: "We make great computers." | WHY: "Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently." |
| HOW: "They're beautifully designed and easy to use." | HOW: "The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed and simple to use." |
| WHY: "Want to buy one?" | WHAT: "We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?" |
The difference is subtle but profound. Apple's approach explains why people will buy phones, tablets, watches, and music from a computer company. They're not buying products, they're buying a belief system.
The Golden Circle isn't just a communication theory, it's grounded in biology. The structure of the Golden Circle corresponds to the structure of the human brain:
The outer section of the brain is responsible for rational and analytical thought and language. It can process vast amounts of information but doesn't drive behavior.
The middle sections are responsible for feelings like trust and loyalty. This is where gut decisions come from. It has no capacity for language, which is why we struggle to put feelings into words.
When we communicate from the outside in (WHAT first ), we're speaking to the part of the brain that doesn't drive behavior. When we communicate from the inside out (WHY first ), we're speaking directly to the part of the brain that controls decision-making.
Sinek emphasizes that WHY applies not just to marketing, but to building teams:
If you hire people just because they can do a job, they'll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they'll work for you with blood, sweat, and tears.
Skills can be taught; passion for your purpose cannot.
Sinek connects the Golden Circle to the Law of Diffusion of Innovation. To achieve mass-market success, you must first win over the innovators and early adopters (about 15-18% of the market). These are the people who buy based on belief, not features. Once you reach the tipping point, the early and late majority follow.
Many organizations start with a clear WHY but lose it as they grow. Success breeds complexity, and complexity obscures purpose. The challenge is to scale while keeping WHY at the center. Organizations that lose their WHY become commoditized, competing only on price and features.
Your WHY comes from looking backward, not forward. It's discovered by examining your past, the experiences, people, and moments that shaped who you are. Ask yourself:
Start from the inside out. People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have, it's to do business with people who believe what you believe. When you communicate your WHY, you attract those who share your values and inspire them to action.
