Risk & Business Magazine CEO/CFO Business Today Magazine | Page 17

WHY
The Science Of
WHY
BY: SIMON​ S
​ INEK, AUTHOR & MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER
T
he work world is tough: Wake
up, go to work, deal with the
boss (or if you are the boss,
deal with everyone), make
money (ideally to make more
this year than last year), come home,
manage personal life, go to bed, wake up,
repeat. That's plenty to deal with every
day. Why get fancy (and waste time) by
trying to also understand why you do
what you do? The answer to that question
isn't fancy; it's simple.
Discovering the WHY injects passion
into our work. This is not a formula
for success. There are many ways to
be successful (by traditional metrics);
however, the Golden Circle is a tool to
help us achieve long-term,
fulfilling success.
THE GOLDEN CIRCLE
Every organization—and every person’s
career—operates on three levels, as shown
in the illustration to the right: What we
do, how we do it, and why we do it. We
all know what we do: the products we
sell, the services we offer, or the jobs we
do. Some of us know how we do it: the
things that we think make us different or
stand out from the crowd. But very few of
us can clearly articulate why we do what
we do.
The WHY is the purpose, cause, or belief
that drives every organization and every
person's individual career. Why does
your company exist? Why did you get out
of bed this morning? And why should
anyone care?
Companies that inspire, companies that
command trust and loyalty over the long
term, are the ones that make us feel we're
accomplishing something bigger than
just saving a buck. That feeling of alliance
with something bigger is the reason we
keep wearing the jersey of our hometown
sports team even though they’ve missed
the playoffs for 10 years and counting.
It’s why some of us will always buy Apple
products over other brands, even if Apple
isn’t always the most affordable choice.
Whether we like to admit it or not, we are
not entirely rational beings. If we were,
no one would ever fall in love and no one
would ever start a business. Faced with
an overwhelming chance of failure, no
rational person would ever take either of
those risks. But we do. Every day. Because
how we feel about something or someone
is more powerful than what we think
about it or them.
express in words. That’s the reason we so
often resort to metaphors and analogies,
like “our relationship feels like a train
heading at high speed toward a rickety
bridge” or “when I get to the office, I feel
like a little kid on the playground again.”
Even though communicating our feelings
is hard, the payoff is big. When we align
emotionally with our customers and
clients, our connection is much stronger
and more meaningful than any affiliation
based on features and benefits. That’s
what starting with WHY is all about.
And here's the best part, this whole
concept of WHY is grounded in the tenets
of the biology of human decision making.
How the Golden Circle works maps
perfectly with how our brain works.
There’s just one problem with feelings.
They can be tremendously difficult to
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