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How Great Leaders Inspire Action | Simon Sinek | TED — Transcript

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0:16How do you explain when things don't go as we assume?
0:20Or better, how do you explain
0:23when others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all of the assumptions?
0:27For example:
0:29Why is Apple so innovative?
0:31Year after year, after year,
0:33they're more innovative than all their competition.
0:36And yet, they're just a computer company.
0:38They're just like everyone else.
0:40They have the same access to the same talent,
0:42the same agencies,
0:43the same consultants, the same media.
0:45Then why is it that they seem to have something different?
0:50Why is it that Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights Movement?
0:54He wasn't the only man who suffered in pre-civil rights America,
0:58and he certainly wasn't the only great orator of the day.
1:01Why him?
1:02And why is it that the Wright brothers
1:05were able to figure out controlled, powered man flight
1:08when there were certainly other teams
1:10who were better qualified, better funded --
1:13and they didn't achieve powered man flight,
1:16and the Wright brothers beat them to it.
1:18There's something else at play here.
1:21About three and a half years ago, I made a discovery.
1:25And this discovery profoundly changed my view on how I thought the world worked,
1:31and it even profoundly changed the way in which I operate in it.
1:37As it turns out, there's a pattern.
1:40As it turns out, all the great inspiring leaders and organizations in the world,
1:44whether it's Apple or Martin Luther King or the Wright brothers,
1:47they all think, act and communicate the exact same way.
1:51And it's the complete opposite to everyone else.
1:55All I did was codify it,
1:57and it's probably the world's simplest idea.
2:01I call it the golden circle.
2:11Why? How? What?
2:14This little idea explains
2:16why some organizations and some leaders are able to inspire where others aren't.
2:20Let me define the terms really quickly.
2:22Every single person, every single organization on the planet
2:25knows what they do, 100 percent.
2:29Some know how they do it,
2:31whether you call it your differentiated value proposition
2:33or your proprietary process or your USP.
2:36But very, very few people or organizations know why they do what they do.
2:41And by "why" I don't mean "to make a profit."
2:43That's a result. It's always a result.
2:45By "why," I mean: What's your purpose?
2:47What's your cause? What's your belief?
2:49Why does your organization exist?
2:53Why do you get out of bed in the morning?
2:55And why should anyone care?
2:58As a result, the way we think, we act,
3:00the way we communicate is from the outside in, it's obvious.
3:03We go from the clearest thing to the fuzziest thing.
3:05But the inspired leaders and the inspired organizations --
3:09regardless of their size, regardless of their industry --
3:12all think, act and communicate from the inside out.
3:17Let me give you an example.
3:19I use Apple because they're easy to understand and everybody gets it.
3:22If Apple were like everyone else,
3:25a marketing message from them might sound like this:
3:28"We make great computers.
3:31They're beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly.
3:35Want to buy one?"
3:37"Meh."
3:38That's how most of us communicate.
3:40That's how most marketing and sales are done,
3:42that's how we communicate interpersonally.
3:44We say what we do,
3:46we say how we're different or better
3:48and we expect some sort of a behavior,
3:50a purchase, a vote, something like that.
3:52Here's our new law firm:
3:53We have the best lawyers with the biggest clients,
3:56we always perform for our clients.
3:57Here's our new car:
3:59It gets great gas mileage, it has leather seats.
4:01Buy our car.
4:03But it's uninspiring.
4:04Here's how Apple actually communicates.
4:08"Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo.
4:13We believe in thinking differently.
4:16The way we challenge the status quo
4:18is by making our products beautifully designed,
4:21simple to use and user friendly.
4:23We just happen to make great computers.
4:25Want to buy one?"
4:28Totally different, right?
4:29You're ready to buy a computer from me.
4:31I just reversed the order of the information.
4:33What it proves to us is that people don't buy what you do;
4:37people buy why you do it.
4:39This explains why every single person in this room
4:44is perfectly comfortable buying a computer from Apple.
4:47But we're also perfectly comfortable
4:49buying an MP3 player from Apple, or a phone from Apple,
4:52or a DVR from Apple.
4:54As I said before, Apple's just a computer company.
4:56Nothing distinguishes them structurally from any of their competitors.
5:00Their competitors are equally qualified to make all of these products.
5:03In fact, they tried.
5:05A few years ago, Gateway came out with flat-screen TVs.
5:08They're eminently qualified to make flat-screen TVs.
5:10They've been making flat-screen monitors for years.
5:13Nobody bought one.
5:17Dell came out with MP3 players and PDAs,
5:23and they make great quality products,
5:25and they can make perfectly well-designed products --
5:28and nobody bought one.
5:30In fact, talking about it now, we can't even imagine
5:32buying an MP3 player from Dell.
5:34Why would you buy one from a computer company?
5:36But we do it every day.
5:37People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it.
5:40The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have.
5:46The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.
5:51Here's the best part:
5:52None of what I'm telling you is my opinion.
5:55It's all grounded in the tenets of biology.
5:58Not psychology, biology.
6:00If you look at a cross-section of the human brain,
6:03from the top down, the human brain is actually broken
6:05into three major components
6:07that correlate perfectly with the golden circle.
6:10Our newest brain, our Homo sapien brain,
6:13our neocortex,
6:15corresponds with the "what" level.
6:17The neocortex is responsible
6:19for all of our rational and analytical thought and language.
6:23The middle two sections make up our limbic brains,
6:26and our limbic brains are responsible for all of our feelings,
6:29like trust and loyalty.
6:32It's also responsible for all human behavior,
6:34all decision-making,
6:36and it has no capacity for language.
6:39In other words, when we communicate from the outside in,
6:42yes, people can understand vast amounts of complicated information
6:45like features and benefits and facts and figures.
6:48It just doesn't drive behavior.
6:50When we can communicate from the inside out,
6:52we're talking directly to the part of the brain
6:54that controls behavior,
6:56and then we allow people to rationalize it with the tangible things we say and do.
7:00This is where gut decisions come from.
7:02Sometimes you can give somebody all the facts and figures,
7:06and they say, "I know what all the facts and details say,
7:08but it just doesn't feel right."
7:10Why would we use that verb, it doesn't "feel" right?
7:13Because the part of the brain that controls decision-making
7:15doesn't control language.
7:17The best we can muster up is,
7:18"I don't know. It just doesn't feel right."
7:20Or sometimes you say you're leading with your heart or soul.
7:24I hate to break it to you, those aren't other body parts
7:26controlling your behavior.
7:28It's all happening here in your limbic brain,
7:30the part of the brain that controls decision-making and not language.
7:33But if you don't know why you do what you do,
7:36and people respond to why you do what you do,
7:39then how will you ever get people
7:42to vote for you, or buy something from you,
7:44or, more importantly, be loyal
7:46and want to be a part of what it is that you do.
7:49The goal is not just to sell to people who need what you have;
7:52the goal is to sell to people who believe what you believe.
7:55The goal is not just to hire people who need a job;
7:59it's to hire people who believe what you believe.
8:02I always say that, you know,
8:04if you hire people just because they can do a job, they'll work for your money,
8:10but if they believe what you believe,
8:12they'll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.
8:14Nowhere else is there a better example than with the Wright brothers.
8:18Most people don't know about Samuel Pierpont Langley.
8:21And back in the early 20th century,
8:24the pursuit of powered man flight was like the dot com of the day.
8:27Everybody was trying it.
8:29And Samuel Pierpont Langley had, what we assume,
8:32to be the recipe for success.
8:34Even now, you ask people,
8:36"Why did your product or why did your company fail?"
8:39and people always give you the same permutation
8:41of the same three things:
8:43under-capitalized, the wrong people, bad market conditions.
8:46It's always the same three things, so let's explore that.
8:49Samuel Pierpont Langley
8:51was given 50,000 dollars by the War Department
8:54to figure out this flying machine.
8:56Money was no problem.
8:57He held a seat at Harvard
9:00and worked at the Smithsonian and was extremely well-connected;
9:03he knew all the big minds of the day.
9:05He hired the best minds money could find
9:09and the market conditions were fantastic.
9:11The New York Times followed him around everywhere,
9:14and everyone was rooting for Langley.
9:16Then how come we've never heard of Samuel Pierpont Langley?
9:19A few hundred miles away in Dayton, Ohio,
9:22Orville and Wilbur Wright,
9:24they had none of what we consider to be the recipe for success.
9:28They had no money;
9:30they paid for their dream with the proceeds from their bicycle shop.
9:33Not a single person on the Wright brothers' team
9:35had a college education,
9:37not even Orville or Wilbur.
9:39And The New York Times followed them around nowhere.
9:42The difference was,
9:44Orville and Wilbur were driven by a cause, by a purpose, by a belief.
9:48They believed that if they could figure out this flying machine,
9:52it'll change the course of the world.
9:55Samuel Pierpont Langley was different.
9:57He wanted to be rich, and he wanted to be famous.
10:00He was in pursuit of the result.
10:02He was in pursuit of the riches.
10:04And lo and behold, look what happened.
10:06The people who believed in the Wright brothers' dream
10:09worked with them with blood and sweat and tears.
10:12The others just worked for the paycheck.
10:14They tell stories of how every time the Wright brothers went out,
10:17they would have to take five sets of parts,
10:19because that's how many times they would crash before supper.
10:23And, eventually, on December 17th, 1903,
10:27the Wright brothers took flight,
10:30and no one was there to even experience it.
10:32We found out about it a few days later.
10:36And further proof that Langley was motivated by the wrong thing:
10:40the day the Wright brothers took flight,
10:42he quit.
10:43He could have said,
10:45"That's an amazing discovery, guys,
10:47and I will improve upon your technology," but he didn't.
10:50He wasn't first, he didn't get rich, he didn't get famous, so he quit.
10:54People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it.
10:57If you talk about what you believe,
10:59you will attract those who believe what you believe.
11:02But why is it important to attract those who believe what you believe?
11:07Something called the law of diffusion of innovation,
11:10if you don't know the law, you know the terminology.
11:12The first 2.5% of our population are our innovators.
11:17The next 13.5% of our population are our early adopters.
11:22The next 34% are your early majority,
11:24your late majority and your laggards.
11:27The only reason these people buy touch-tone phones
11:30is because you can't buy rotary phones anymore.
11:32(Laughter)
11:34We all sit at various places at various times on this scale,
11:37but what the law of diffusion of innovation tells us
11:40is that if you want mass-market success or mass-market acceptance of an idea,
11:45you cannot have it until you achieve this tipping point
11:49between 15 and 18 percent market penetration,
11:52and then the system tips.
11:55I love asking businesses, "What's your conversion on new business?"
11:58They love to tell you, "It's about 10 percent," proudly.
12:01Well, you can trip over 10% of the customers.
12:03We all have about 10% who just "get it."
12:05That's how we describe them, right?
12:07That's like that gut feeling, "Oh, they just get it."
12:09The problem is: How do you find the ones that get it
12:12before doing business versus the ones who don't get it?
12:14So it's this here, this little gap that you have to close,
12:18as Jeffrey Moore calls it, "Crossing the Chasm" --
12:20because, you see, the early majority will not try something
12:24until someone else has tried it first.
12:28And these guys, the innovators and the early adopters,
12:31they're comfortable making those gut decisions.
12:33They're more comfortable making those intuitive decisions
12:36that are driven by what they believe about the world
12:40and not just what product is available.
12:42These are the people who stood in line for six hours
12:44to buy an iPhone when they first came out,
12:47when you could have bought one off the shelf the next week.
12:50These are the people who spent 40,000 dollars
12:52on flat-screen TVs when they first came out,
12:55even though the technology was substandard.
12:58And, by the way, they didn't do it because the technology was so great;
13:02they did it for themselves.
13:04It's because they wanted to be first.
13:06People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it
13:08and what you do simply proves what you believe.
13:12In fact, people will do the things that prove what they believe.
13:16The reason that person bought the iPhone in the first six hours,
13:21stood in line for six hours,
13:23was because of what they believed about the world,
13:25and how they wanted everybody to see them:
13:27they were first.
13:28People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it.
13:31So let me give you a famous example,
13:33a famous failure and a famous success of the law of diffusion of innovation.
13:37First, the famous failure.
13:39It's a commercial example.
13:41As we said before, the recipe for success
13:43is money and the right people and the right market conditions.
13:46You should have success then.
13:48Look at TiVo.
13:50From the time TiVo came out about eight or nine years ago
13:52to this current day,
13:54they are the single highest-quality product on the market,
13:57hands down, there is no dispute.
14:00They were extremely well-funded.
14:02Market conditions were fantastic.
14:04I mean, we use TiVo as verb.
14:06I TiVo stuff on my piece-of-junk Time Warner DVR all the time.
14:09(Laughter)
14:12But TiVo's a commercial failure.
14:14They've never made money.
14:16And when they went IPO,
14:18their stock was at about 30 or 40 dollars
14:20and then plummeted, and it's never traded above 10.
14:22In fact, I don't think it's even traded above six,
14:25except for a couple of little spikes.
14:27Because you see, when TiVo launched their product,
14:29they told us all what they had.
14:32They said, "We have a product that pauses live TV,
14:35skips commercials, rewinds live TV and memorizes your viewing habits
14:40without you even asking."
14:43And the cynical majority said,
14:45"We don't believe you.
14:47We don't need it. We don't like it.
14:49You're scaring us."
14:51What if they had said,
14:53"If you're the kind of person who likes to have total control
14:58over every aspect of your life,
15:01boy, do we have a product for you.
15:04It pauses live TV, skips commercials,
15:06memorizes your viewing habits, etc., etc."
15:09People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it,
15:11and what you do simply serves as the proof of what you believe.
15:15Now let me give you a successful example of the law of diffusion of innovation.
15:21In the summer of 1963,
15:24250,000 people showed up on the mall in Washington
15:28to hear Dr. King speak.
15:31They sent out no invitations,
15:34and there was no website to check the date.
15:37How do you do that?
15:39Well, Dr. King wasn't the only man in America
15:41who was a great orator.
15:43He wasn't the only man in America who suffered
15:46in a pre-civil rights America.
15:47In fact, some of his ideas were bad.
15:50But he had a gift.
15:52He didn't go around telling people what needed to change in America.
15:55He went around and told people what he believed.
15:57"I believe, I believe, I believe," he told people.
16:01And people who believed what he believed
16:03took his cause, and they made it their own, and they told people.
16:07And some of those people created structures
16:09to get the word out to even more people.
16:11And lo and behold, 250,000 people showed up
16:15on the right day at the right time to hear him speak.
16:20How many of them showed up for him?
16:24Zero.
16:26They showed up for themselves.
16:28It's what they believed about America
16:30that got them to travel in a bus for eight hours
16:33to stand in the sun in Washington in the middle of August.
16:36It's what they believed, and it wasn't about black versus white:
16:3925% of the audience was white.
16:42Dr. King believed that there are two types of laws in this world:
16:46those that are made by a higher authority and those that are made by men.
16:50And not until all the laws that are made by men
16:53are consistent with the laws made by the higher authority
16:56will we live in a just world.
16:58It just so happened that the Civil Rights Movement
17:00was the perfect thing to help him bring his cause to life.
17:04We followed, not for him, but for ourselves.
17:07By the way, he gave the "I have a dream" speech,
17:09not the "I have a plan" speech.
17:11(Laughter)
17:15Listen to politicians now, with their comprehensive 12-point plans.
17:18They're not inspiring anybody.
17:20Because there are leaders and there are those who lead.
17:23Leaders hold a position of power or authority,
17:27but those who lead inspire us.
17:31Whether they're individuals or organizations,
17:34we follow those who lead, not because we have to,
17:37but because we want to.
17:40We follow those who lead, not for them, but for ourselves.
17:45And it's those who start with "why"
17:48that have the ability to inspire those around them
17:53or find others who inspire them.
17:56Thank you very much.
17:57(Applause)

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