This Ted Talks video is about How Great Leaders Inspire Action and how leaders and influential people differ from everyone else.
Simon Sinek, the speaker, explains this concept of “the golden circle”. It describes how people communicate and applies this process to the business world. We all know what we do, some know how they do it, but very few know why. He stresses throughout the video that “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” This idea is a very true concept that pertains to all aspects of life and business.
He gives the example of Apple. They are just a computer company, yet have become almost the “model company” businesses are striving to be like. Becoming successful is not about having the most money, being the most educated or coming up with the best idea; it truly is believing in what you do and then making others believe it too. This may seem like a cheesy statement your mother told you as a kid, but without that belief, people will not be inspired or want to hear what you have to offer.
He also brings up the law of diffusion of innovation. If you are not familiar with it, it is a model that shows what percent of the population will adopt a product and when. There are always a group of people who will be the first to purchase a product, even if they have to camp out overnight. But until the innovators and early adopters try out the products, no one else is going to step up. In order to grasp the attention of these people, it is important to have a strong belief that then transfers over to the customer.
One line from the video that stuck out the most was “Martin Luther King’s speech was called I have a dream speech and not I have a plan speech.” He felt strongly about what he was talking about and people could sense this. This can be applied to business today. If we don’t believe in our product and we don’t have a reason behind, how can we expect others to believe it?
