I remember that a few years ago, companies focused mainly on offering their potential customers what they were selling, be it their products or services, regardless of the product per se. Then with the appearance of the internet, globalization and the number of physical and digital offers, everything began to revolve around the customer experience, what companies made people experience from the time they started looking for something until they bought it. , and even after sales; This has been called the “costumer journey”, and with this it is sought not only to generate the purchase, but also to build customer loyalty and that consumption becomes recurring and turn it into a spokesperson for the product or brand.
As time progresses, generations are becoming interested in other things that go beyond the product, boosted by the pandemic, customers seek to identify with the company that offers the product or service, learn more about it, why it does it, how it does it and lastly, what it does. This turns the previous pyramid upside down, where what was produced was at the top, then the how and finally the why, I sometimes feel this as something of less relevance.
Martin Luther King Jr., was always a man with skills to motivate, but at some point he understood that for his civil rights movement to succeed, it would take more than encouraging words and eloquent speeches. Thus, to attract so many people of all colors and races, from all corners of the country, and bring them together on August 28, 1963, he required something special.
Although others knew what had to change in the United States for civil rights to reach the whole world, Martin Luther King was able to motivate an entire country to change not only for the benefit of a minority, but for the good. of all, giving one of the greatest speeches in the history of mankind and that would in turn change the history of the United States with that phrase “I have a dream”.
If we transfer what Martin Luther King Jr. did to business life, we could say that what will make a company “successful” today is that before talking about what it produces, it talks about the reasons why it produces it. Regarding this, Simon Sinek, in his book “Start with Why”, talks about the Golden Circles and proposes to start with a strong sense of purpose at the beginning, a way to achieve it and, finally, simply tell what it is that the company does. business. For his part, Hartman describes the three circles that make up Sinek’s methodology, indicating that the key to each circle is clarity, discipline, and consistency.
If it’s not clear why, you can’t know how
It is a false assumption that differentiation happens in how and what a company does. The simple fact of offering a high-quality product, with more features, better services and features, or at a better price, today does not make a difference or guarantee success.
What would be the questions that the company should ask itself as to the reason for what it does: Why does your company exist? What drives you to get up every morning? Why are we doing this and not something else? What motivates you to create this company?
Regarding the second question of the Golden Circle, that is, the how, Hartman recommends identifying what those values or principles are that guide our day to day. “First, you must ask yourself what are the values and beliefs that support you as an entrepreneur and that project. Then, you have to put those values and principles in the form of a verb so that they are truly effective”.
The last step of the Golden Circle, The Why, Hartman mentions the only way people will know what you believe is through the things you say and do; and if you are not consistent with this, no one will know about your convictions. The why is just a belief, the how is the actions taken to carry out that belief, and the what is the result of those actions: everything that is said and done.
When the why, how and what are in perfect harmony, authenticity is achieved and the buyer feels content and motivated. Without motivation, the buyer is easily swayed by aspiration or fear, and can choose any other option that is up to the task without differentiating more than price or quality.
Let’s take an example of a company that we all know, and that has applied Simon Sinek’s Golden Circles, Apple. If this company were like all the others, its vision would be “We make great computers. They are perfectly designed, simple to use and intuitive. Do you want to buy one?”
But let’s see how Apple really presents itself: “In everything we do, we believe in challenging the established order. We believe in thinking differently. The way we change the established order is by making products that are uniquely designed, simple to use and intuitive. And we happen to make great computers. Do you want to buy one?”
We see how Apple works the reason for what they do. It does not go directly to sell its products but first expresses the motivations of what they do, and with this they hook the consumer, who not only buys their products, but also becomes loyal, buys, repurchases and also becomes a spokesperson for the company’s products. .
If we see this philosophy from the inside of the company, Hartman asserts that companies with a strong sense of why can inspire their employees, who are more productive and innovative, and as an added value, this feeling that they bring to work it will attract other people willing to work there as well.
When people inside the company know why they are going to work, people outside the company are much more likely to understand that these company reasons are special.