What is The Golden Circle?
Simon Sinek, a thought leader on understanding why we do what we do, says: “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”
He describes what he calls the “golden circle”. The outer most circle contains the what. The middle circle contains the how. And, the inner circle contains the why.
Delving into the neuroscience to support this model, Simon compares his golden circle with the structure of our brains.
The what level represents the neocortex, or the region responsible for rational and analytical thought. While the how and why levels represent our limbic system, which drives our unconscious response to external stimulus.
When leaders and their teams understand why they do what they do it just feels right. It isn’t a plan or a KPI, it’s a feeling. But it takes time and effort to find it.
Find Your Why
Fortunately, there’s a process leaders can follow to find their why. So, you might like to check out Simon’s book called Find Your Why as part of your personal leadership development.
About Mark Pollock
Acknowledged as an expert in leadership, resilience and overcoming adversity, high performance, and collaboration, leaders around the world invite Mark to support their teams to adapt, be resilient, perform and collaborate as a motivational speaker, delivering keynote speeches and masterclasses.
Interested in finding out more?
Here are some of my favourite books on collaboration and building trust; check them out if you’re interested in learning more.
- The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek
- The Fearless Organisation by Amy C. Edmondson
- Frances Frei TED Talk: How to build (and rebuild) trust
- Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
- Trust Factor by Paul J Zak
