Welcome to Sentivia

Okay, let me break this down for you. So, I'm someone who's spent a lot of time thinking about what makes some leaders and organizations truly exceptional, the ones that seem to defy the norms and achieve greatness against all odds. I'm not a psychologist, or some sort of guru, I'm more like a curious observer who's obsessed with finding the underlying patterns of success. And in my exploration, I made a discovery that changed everything about how I see the world. I’ve seen this pattern present across various people from a variety of different contexts

So you ask, how do I explain why things don't always go as we expect? Why do some people achieve things that seem impossible, while others, who are just as capable on paper, fall short? It's not just luck. It's not just better resources. It's not even just talent. Let's look at examples that are often used to try to explain this difference such as Apple, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Wright brothers

Think about Apple. They are a tech company, right? A company just like all the others with the same access to the same talent, agencies, consultants, media but they just seem to have an edge. How does that happen? It's not just about their technology because they’re competing with many other companies that make good computers. Or consider Martin Luther King Jr. He wasn’t the only man suffering in segregationist America, and he wasn't the only gifted speaker. So why did he become the voice of the Civil Rights movement? Or the Wright Brothers? Other teams had more funding and more experienced engineers, yet it was two bicycle shop owners who achieved powered flight first. Why is that?

What I've found is that these seemingly impossible achievements have a common thread. It’s a pattern, a process if you will. All these great, inspiring leaders and organizations, they think, act, and communicate in a very specific way – and it’s the complete opposite of how most of us do. It’s not complicated. I just put a name to it: The Golden Circle. Why, How, What. It is incredibly simple, but it explains everything.

Let's get into how this actually works. Every person, every organization, knows WHAT they do. 100%. This is what we're all comfortable with. "I build computers" or "I make sandwiches" is something we understand. Some also know HOW they do it; their process. It might be a unique way of designing something, or their proprietary methods. This is your "differentiated value proposition" as some people would say. But it's important to note that not everyone knows WHY they do what they do. When I say "Why," I don’t mean profit. That's a result. I mean, what is your purpose, your cause, your belief? Why do you even exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And perhaps more importantly, why should anyone else care?

See, most of us go about life from the outside in. We start with what we do and then maybe we move to how we do it, barely ever thinking about why we do it. That's how we explain the features and benefits of things, that’s how marketing and sales works. It’s the traditional way of trying to sell something. "We have this product, it’s great, want to buy it?". We do the same in interpersonal communication. For example a company might say: "We have the best lawyers, with the biggest clients, we always perform for our clients." Or: "Our new car gets great gas mileage and has leather seats. Buy our car."

But the most inspiring leaders and organizations reverse that order. They start with WHY they exist. They act upon this and then communicate about it. They go from the inside out. Let's go back to Apple. If Apple communicated like the majority of companies, they would probably say, "We make great computers, they’re beautifully designed and easy to use, want to buy one?". But that doesn’t get my heart racing. It's boring. It's uninspiring. But here's how Apple communicates, "Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. We do that by making beautifully designed products that are easy to use. Oh yeah, we also make great computers. Want to buy one?" By starting with their ‘Why’ their message is different and inspires a different feeling. I just reversed the order of information. It proves that people don't buy WHAT you do, people buy WHY you do it. This is why you’re comfortable buying an MP3 player from a computer company and a phone, and a watch. It doesn’t make logical sense, but it does make sense when you understand the ‘Why’ behind the company

It’s not just about marketing either, it’s actually rooted in the biology of how we make decisions. The human brain has three major components that correlate directly with the Golden Circle. The newest part of our brain, the neocortex, handles rational thought and language, the ‘What’. The middle two parts, the limbic brains, handle feelings like trust and loyalty, and all our decision making, the ‘Why’ and ‘How’. This part doesn’t have a capacity for language, hence why we struggle to explain how we "feel" about a decision. When we communicate from the outside in, from the ‘What’ we're talking to the rational part of the brain. People understand the facts and figures but those facts don't change behavior. When we communicate from the inside out, starting with ‘Why’ we speak directly to the part of the brain that controls behavior, making a connection that goes beyond logic.

Therefore, if you don’t know why you do what you do, and people respond to why you do what you do, then how will you get people to believe in your message? The goal is not to just sell to people who need what you have, but rather to sell to people who believe what you believe. The goal is not to hire people who need a job but rather to hire people who believe what you believe, who will work with blood, sweat, and tears.

Look at the Wright brothers, who were driven by a belief that they could change the course of the world with the flying machine, vs. Samuel Pierpont Langley, who was driven by fame and fortune. The Wright brothers didn't have much money, and they weren’t experts, but they had a very clear why, and they attracted others who shared that vision. Langley, on the other hand, was well-funded, highly connected, and had all the qualifications needed. When the Wright brothers achieved flight, he simply quit. He didn't believe in the cause. He was in it for the wrong reason.

This also ties into the Law of Diffusion of Innovation. Innovators and early adopters, the first 15-18% of people who try something new, are motivated by what they believe, not necessarily what is the best product. They make decisions with their gut. They want to be first, to be part of something new. Mass-market adoption comes only after this tipping point has been achieved. This explains why TiVo failed as a product. They focused on the features of their product and not on the belief behind it. They focused on ‘What’ they had to offer rather than ‘Why’ they offered it.

Martin Luther King Jr. didn't go around telling people what needed to change in America. He told people what he believed. "I believe," he declared, "I believe." And those who shared his belief, they took up his cause and made it their own. It wasn’t about him, it was about them, it was about their beliefs about America.

So, to summarize, I'm not a guru, I'm just someone who's pieced together what I believe to be a fundamental truth about how the world works. I've discovered the Golden Circle, and it's helped me understand why some organizations and leaders inspire and others don't. It’s all about starting with "why."