Golden Circle

Simon Sinek is the one who developed the thinking model the Golden Circle. The Golden Circle is a model built as a result of studies conducted by Sinek. These studies are into the success of the world's most influential companies and leaders. Sinek discovered that the same way of acting, communicating and thinking underlies all successful brands. Remarkably, this is completely opposite of how the majority of companies and leaders act, communicate and think.

Golden Circle Explanation 

When companies are asked why their customers are customers with their company most companies answer the same thing. These are customers because their product or service is great, well priced and of good quality. According to Simon Sinek, this answer reflects that these companies have no idea who their customers are. High impact companies approach their customer with the why question. The figure below approaches this principle:

The Golden Circle model looks at three questions. Only the most influential companies start with the Why. Other companies start from the outside of the Golden Circle, the What. The circles in the model stand for:

• What: What kind of products or services does the company sell?
• How: How companies do what they do. How did they differentiate themselves? How is the product or service different or better?
• Why: Why are you doing this as a company? This is about what the company believes in, their inspiration

Example Golden Circle model 

A clear example to explain the Golden Circle, according to Sinek, is the Apple brand. Apple's What is making good computers, phones and tablets. With Apple, the How is how easy the devices are to use and how beautiful they look. They are told what they make and how they make it, but the Why is not yet clear in this. Such a big company like Apple actually starts from the Why as well. The company's vision is to challenge the status quo by thinking differently. From this vision comes the making of the beautiful products that are easy to use, the What and How.

As a leader and company, it is therefore recommended to focus on the Why. You can't just figure out why your product or service is great. The Why provides a starting point toward which the product is developed. By using the Golden Circle model, you as a company or leader can gain insight into what makes or can make you successful.