Start with 'Why'

Why did only Wright Brothers succeed to build the first airplane?

Why has Apple remained one of the most innovative companies year over year?

Why was Martin Luther King Jr. able to inspire his country to come together in the Civil Rights Movement?

Why is Harley Davidson the only company whose customers have been known to regularly tattoo its trademark on their body?

Why has Southwest Airlines been the most profitable airline in history?

Why did only Walt Disney create Disneyland and Mickey Mouse?

No matter from where they hail, they all have something in common. They all started with WHY!

So, it all starts from inside out. It all starts with WHY!

Most of the organizations or people think, act or communicate they do so from the outside in, from WHAT TO WHY. And for good reason - they go from clearest thing to fuzziest thing. We say WHAT we do, we sometimes say HOW we do it, but we rarely say WHY we do WHAT we do.

But not the inspired companies. Not the inspired leaders. Every single one of them, regardless of their size or their industry, thinks, acts or communicates from the inside out.

"People don't buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it."

Knowing your WHY is not the only way to be "successful", but it is the only way to maintain a lasting success and have a greater blend of innovation and flexibility. When a WHY goes fuzzy, it becomes much more difficult to maintain the growth, loyalty and inspiration that helped drive the original success. By difficult, I mean that manipulation rather than inspiration fast becomes the strategy of choice to motivate behavior. This is effective in the short term but comes at a high cost in the long term.

Starting with WHY is just the beginning. There is still work to be done before a person or an organization earns the right or ability to inspire. For the Golden Circle to work, each of the pieces must be in balance and in the right order.

Clarity of WHY

It all starts with clarity. You have to know WHY you do WHAT you do. If people don't buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it, so it follows that if you don't know WHY you do WHAT you do, how will anyone else? To lead it requires those who willingly follow. It requires those who believe in something bigger than a single issue. To inspire starts with the clarity of WHY.

Discipline of HOW

Once you know WHY you do WHAT you do, the question is HOW will you do it? HOWs are the values or principles that guide HOW to bring your cause to life. The inherent nature of doing things for the long-term success often includes investments or short-term costs. That's why the discipline to never veer from your cause, to hold yourself accountable to HOW you do things, is the hardest part.

Consistency of WHAT

Everything you say and everything you do has to prove what you believe. A WHY is just a belief. HOWs are the actions you take to realize that belief. And WHATs are the results of those actions - everything you say and do. If people don't buy WHAT you do but WHY you do it, then all things must be consistent. With consistency people will see and hear, without a shadow of a doubt, what you believe. It is at the WHAT level that authenticity happens.

Following the above order, start with WHY, know HOW you want to do WHAT you want to do!

The more organizations and people who learn to start with WHY, the more people there will be who wake up being fulfilled by the work they do.

Just be happy without a reason, keep a smile all the season,

Life is too short to be stressed, so stay happy, stay blessed!!