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 that seem to defy all the assumptions?
For example, why is Apple so innovative? Year after year, they are more innovative than all their competitions. And yet, they are just a computer company. They are just like everyone else. They have the same access to the same talent, the same agency, the same consultant, the same media – then why is it that they seem to have something different? Why is it that Martin Luther King led us the right movement? He wasn’t the only man who suffered in the priest of rights of America. And he certainly wasn’t the only great author of the day, why him? And why is it that the Write brothers were able to figure out controlled, powered man flight, when there were certainly other teams who were better qualified, better funded, but they didn’t achieve powered man flight – the Write brothers beat them to it. There is something else that play here.
About three and a half years ago, I made a discovery. And this discovery profoundly changed my view on how I thought the world worked, and it even profoundly changed the way I operate in it. As it turns out, all the great and inspiring leaders and organizations in the world – whether it’s Apple, or Martin Luther King, or the Write brothers, they all think, act and communicate the exact same way, and it’s the complete opposite to everyone else. Or I did with codify, and it’s probably the world’s simplest idea. I call it the golden circle: why, how, what. This little idea explains why some organizations and some leaders are able to inspire, while others aren’t. Let me define the terms really quickly.
Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows what they do, 100%. Some know how they do it, where you call it your differentiating value proposition, or your proprietary process, or your USP. 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’s a result, it’s always a result. By “why” I mean what’s your purpose, what’s your cause, what’s your belief. Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of the bed in the morning? And why should anyone care? As a result, the way we think, the way we act, the way we communicate, is from the outside in, it’s obvious. We go from the clearest thing to the fuzziest thing. But the inspired leaders and the inspired organizations, regardless of their size, regardless of their industry
So let me give you an example. I use Apple because it’s easy to understand and everybody gets it. If Apple were like everyone else, a marketing message from them might sound like this: “We make great computers. They are beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly. Want to buy one?”
And that’s how most of us communicate. That’s how most marketing is done, that’s how most sales done, and that’s how most of us communicate personally. We say what we do, we say how we are different or how we are better, and we expect some sort of behavior, a purchase or something like that:
"Here is our new law firm. We have the best lawyers with biggest clients. We always perform for our clients."
"Here is our new car. It gets great gas mileage. It has leather seats. Buy our car."
But it’s uninspiring.
Here is how Apple actually communicates: "Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly. Which is happened to make great computers. Want to buy one?"
Totally different, right? You are ready to buy a computer from me! All I did is was reverse the order of information. What approved 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 is perfectly comfortable buying a computer from Apple. But we are also perfectly comfortable buying an MP3 play from Apple, or a phone from Apple, or a DVR from Apple. But as I said before, Apple is just a computer company. There is nothing that distinguishes them structurally from any of their competitors. Their competitors are all equally qualified to make all of these products. In fact they tried. A few years ago, Gateway came out with flat screen TVs. They are eminently qualified to make flat screen TVs. They’ve been making flat screen monitors for years. Nobody bought one. Dell came out with MP3 players and PDAs. They make great quality products, and they can make perfectly well designed products. Nobody bought one. In fact talking about it now, we can’t even imagine buying an MP3 player from Dell – why would you buy an MP3 player from a computer company? But we do it every day. 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. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.
Here is the best part: none of what I’m telling you is my opinion. It’s all grounded in the tenants of biology. Not psychology, but biology. If you look at the cross section of the human brain looking from the top down, what you see is that the human brain is actually broken into three major components that correlate perfectly with the golden circle. Our newest brain, our homosepian brain, our neo cortex, corresponds with the “what” level. The neo cortex is responsible for all of our rational and analytical thought and language. The middle two sections make up our limbic brains. Our limbic brains are responsible for our feelings, like trust and loyalty. It’s also responsible for all human behavior, all decision making, and it has no capacity for language. In other words, when we communicate from the outside in, people can understand vast amounts of complicated information, like features, benefits, facts and figures. It just doesn’t drive behavior. When we communicated from inside out, we are talking directly to the part of brain that controls behavior. We allow people to rationalize it with the tangible things we say and do. This is where god decisions come from. Sometimes you can give somebody all the facts and figures, and he says, I know what all the facts and details. But it just doesn’t feel right. Why do we use that verb “it doesn’t feel right”? Because the part of brain that controls decision making doesn’t control language. And the best we came up is, I don’t know it just doesn’t feel right. Sometimes you say you are leading with your heart, you are leading with your soul. I have to break up to you there aren’t other parts controlling your behavior. That’s all happening here, in the limbic brain – the part of brain that controls decision making, and not language. But if you don’t know why you do what you do, and people respond to why you do what you do, then how would you ever get people to vote for you, to buy something from you, or more importantly, be loyal? And want to be a part of what it is that you do? Again, the goal is not just to sell people who need what you have, the goal is to sell to people who believe what you believe. The goal is not just to hire people who need a job, it’s to hire people who believe what you believe. I always say that if you hire people just because they can do a job, they work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they work for your blood and sweat and tears.
Most people don’t know about Samuel Pierpont Langley. Back in the early 20th century, the pursuit of powered man flight was like the .com of the day, everybody was trying it. Samuel Langley had what we assume to be the recipe for success. Even now when you ask people why did your product or company fail, people always give you the permutation of the same three things: under capitalized, the wrong people, bad marketing conditions. It’s always the same three things. Let’s explore that. Samuel Langley was given 50,000 dollars by the world department to figure out this flying machine – money was no problem. He held a seat at Harvard and worked at the Smithsonian, and was extremely well connected. He knew all the big minds of the day. He hired the best minds money could find and the marketing conditions were fantastic. The New York Times followed him around everywhere, and everyone was ruding for Langley. And how can we’ve never heard of Samuel Langley? A few hundred miles away in Ohio, all…. Wright.
They had none of what we consider to be the recipe for success. They had no money, they paid for their dream with the proceeds from their bicycle shop. Not a single person on the Wright brother’s team had college education, not even Oral or Rube. And the New York Times followed them around nowhere. The difference was, Oral were driven by a cause, by a purpose, by a belief. They believed, that if they could figure out the flying machine, it would change the cause of the world. Samuel Langley was different. He wanted to be rich, and he wanted to be famous. He was in pursuit of the result. He was in pursuit of the richness. And look what would happen. The people who believed in the Wright Brother’s dream worked with them with blood and sweat and tears. The others just worked for the paycheck. If you tell stories of how every time the Wright Brothers went out, they would have to take five sets of parts, because that’s how many times they would crash before they came in for supper. And eventually on 17th Dec 1903, the Wright Brothers took flight. And no one was there to even experience it. We found out about it a few days later. Further proof that Langley was motivated by the wrong thing, the day that Wright Brothers took flight, he quit. He could have said, “That’s an amazing discovery, guys! I will improve upon your technology!” But he didn’t. He wasn’t the first, he didn’t get rich. He didn’t get famous. So he quit. People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. If you talk about what you believe, you will attract those who believe what you believe.
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