Leaders with a Different Plan of Action.

What did Martin Luther King, the Wright brothers and Steve Jobs all have in common?  They all thought, acted and communicated like each other, and that is much different than today's other leaders.  The most influential leaders all use what Simon Sinek, the author of 2009’s Start With Why, likes to call the “golden circle”.  The circle consists of the three questions why, how and what?  Working from the outside of the circle, every company in the world knows what they do.  Some companies know how they do what they do.  But very few organizations know why they do what they do.  Why does this organization or company actually exist, what is its purpose?  The answer is that all inspirational leaders work from the inside out, starting with why and ending with what.  Most of us define ourselves starting with what we do and then move on to how we do it, but we rarely can define why we do it.

Steve Jobs is an influential leader who has created a following through thinking differently.  Consumers don’t buy what Apple does, they buy why they do it.  The goal is to do business with people who believe in what you believe.  The human brain from top to bottom is divided into three sections that associates with the golden circle.  Working from the outside in, we can relate through words and numbers and get all sorts of information across, but it doesn’t drive behavior.  Where as, if we were to work from the inside of the circle out, we are talking directly to the part of the brain that controls behavior.  The part of the brain that controls decision making, that gut feeling you get about making the right decision.

One example that Sinek points out is the success of the Wright brothers and their defeating Samuel Pierpont Langley to become the most successful pioneers of aviation.  Pierpont Langley only cared about the result and the riches/fame of the result.  The people who believed in the Wright brothers worked with them because they shared the same passion that the Wright brothers had, not just for the paycheck.  As soon as word got out that the Wright brothers were successful in taking flight, Samuel Pierpont Langley quit his efforts in air travel, further proving he was motivated for the wrong reasons.  The moral of this story is people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.

The last example of what Sinek calls the law of diffusion of innovation being utilized to its fullest capacity is that of Martin Luther King’s famous speech in Washington, where 250,000 people showed up.  It was in 1963, so there was no website, no internet and there weren’t even invitations sent out.  So how and why did this many people show up to hear Dr. King speak?  They showed up for the cause that they believed in.  These people took his cause and made it their own and then passed the word along to other people.  Dr. King didn’t go around telling people what needed to change in America, instead he spoke about and acted upon his beliefs.  250,000 people showed up on that one particular summer day in Washington to hear the “I have a dream” speech, much more powerful than the “I have a plan” speech that we hear so many politicians recite today.

We follow leaders who inspire us.  It’s not because people have to follow them, but because people want to and people can relate it to themselves.  It’s the leaders who start with ‘why’, like the Steve Jobs, the Wright’s and the Dr. King’s who inspire those around them.