The Golden Circle

Worth another look – What was true in 2014 is still true today…

Click here to watch video > Recently I was sent an email with a link to a TED Talk. It was titled “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”. The speaker was Simon Sinek. It has been downloaded 17,319,546 times. Since this was originally posted in 2014 it has now been viewed over 61 million times. That includes the 6 times I have watched or listened to this talk. I found it compelling for a variety of reasons that I wanted to share with you. I can tick them off like probably every other business owner has: (It is amazing how not much has changed – oh yeah, a pandemic!)

• Crumbling Housing Market (Leads To Collapse of Garden Center, Nursery & Landscaping Business)
• Bank Squeeze (Dries Up Lending)
• Increased Competition From Internet Print Shops (and foreign competition)
• Rising Labor Costs (insurance, health care, etc.)
• Client Pool Tanks (many clients are simply no longer in business with no new ones to replace them)
• Weather (Might as well throw that one in. Everyone else does)

I would like to think they were tied directly to a tanking economy, but truthfully there were other reasons. While it hasn’t been easy, we have survived, expanded offerings, entered new markets and are in the best shape in over a decade. Again, I would like to think that it was a magic formula, but rather it was just paying closer attention to every little expense, line item and product we shipped. It wasn’t always pretty, but we are still here while others aren’t. So I’ve got that going for me. So when I first listened to the 18 minute talk there were several insights that really resonated with me. I had to watch/listen to it a few more times so I could fully take in what was said. While the solutions presented were not rocket science, they were based on facts and real life case studies. And that is how I came to learn about ‘The Golden Circle’. Again, a very simple concept with an incredibly powerful message. I couldn’t help think back and look at the last twenty years spent building and rebuilding Sunrise Marketing. I feel as though it has been several different life times. Won some, lost some, but still standing. Of course standing might pay the rent, but is it really the ‘What’ we all work for? It is an interesting phenomena when I was watching the video and started to connect the dots to the success or failure of the business. When it was managed for the ‘What’, the success was erratic. When it was managed for the ‘Why’, it ALWAYS worked out. The ‘Why’ was always connected to personal relationships. Working in the ‘Why’ has always been about thinking up ways that will help our clients succeed, in many respects because it was so personal. Our client’s success has always been our success. Our client’s challenges have always been our challenges. We work for our clients. We are their advocates. I guess we all face the question every day when we put on our shoes and head out the door to face another day. What am I working for? After 20 years (going on 30 years now, but I still feel just as strongly) I think I might have figured it out. I work for the ‘Why’.