Individuals who inspire us to act, don’t do so because they wake up in the morning and decide to change the world. They do so because they spend time asking themselves why the need for change should be addressed and then move on to identify what they can do to make that difference. They do not simply gather data to make educated and informed decisions. They start by gathering people who are passionate, and share their cause with them. In doing so, they create a movement that eventually changes lives, and in doing so changes the world.
Implementing & Balancing the WHY, WHAT and HOW
Technically, the process of leading change starts when an individual identifies his ‘WHY’. He then moves on to find likeminded individuals (generally influencers) who can help him to find the ‘HOW’ that can make the ‘WHY’ come true, and then progresses as the influencers direct the masses to execute the ‘WHAT’ that will actualize the ‘HOW’ in the pursuit of the ‘WHY’.
Finding individuals to help with the ‘HOW’ is a key part of pursuing the ‘WHY’. Every individual who made history in the last century had help from friends who helped them with the ‘HOW’. This exemplifies the importance of creating a culture where everybody understands the soul that is the ‘WHY’, and is guided towards ‘WHAT’ through procedures and standards provided by the ‘HOW’. Ensuring alignment and balance between the three becomes all the more critical as the organization expands. This alignment and balance must ensure that the WHY, WHAT and HOW continue to play out in that order. More importantly it must be built to sustain the presence and the balance of the WHY, even after the founder(s) of the WHY are no longer available to inspire.
The Death of Innovation by a Thousand Paper Cuts
Unfortunately, the spirit of happiness and contentment has deteriorated in the last few decades. Marketing tactics have evolved to focus on short-term revenue, leaving almost no breathing space for consumers in the process. Even though the battle to win revenue resulted in the generation of a scenario where consumers have more variety now than they ever had before, it failed to generate loyalty amongst consumers.
Sales figures are now directly proportional to manipulative marketing techniques. This has effectively pushed branding out of the equation for the most part. A large part of why this is happening is because The need to make waves through innovation has been eclipsed by the need to make revenue by staying on the first page in search rankings.
The Golden Circle
Society’s failure to focus on ‘WHY’ has led to the corruption of the way we progress through the three layers of the Golden Circle. Instead of beginning from the inner core of ‘WHY’, we begin from the outermost layer of ‘WHAT’, transit through ‘HOW’, and only reach ‘WHY’ at the very end if we get lucky. Most companies collapse as they keep going back and forth between ‘WHAT’ and ‘HOW’, while companies like Apple continue to focus on ‘WHY’.
Teaming up for the WHAT and HOW
The founder of the ‘WHY’ inspires, and in doing so, he gains followers. But the founder alone cannot lead these followers. The pursuit of ‘WHY’ is a full-time job, and does not leave a lot of room for operations. The individuals who harbor the ground-level awareness needed to identify the ‘WHAT’ (that needs to be done) become the tactical coordinators that lead the masses and respond to people when they ask ‘HOW’ they are to help in realizing ‘WHAT’ needs to be done in order to pursue the cause which was ‘WHY’ they committed their time and energy to the cause in the first place. This is where every ‘WHAT’ that the organization/movement decides to move forward with, eventually becomes a symbol of the cause.
Aligning the WHYs
It is the ‘WHY’ that makes companies unique and allows them to establish a brand to which consumers choose to be loyal. The decision to be loyal to a brand, contrary to popular belief, is not based on the facts and figures that advertisers bombard them with. The decision to purchase a product and to remain loyal to the company manufacturing that product is rooted in the alignment of the consumers’ ‘WHY’ and the company’s ‘WHY’ behind the development of the product. This alignment inspires the trust and loyalty that allows a company to become a sustainable brand.
Often times, making decisions based on ‘WHY’ can be hard to explain because the part of the human brain that makes decisions based on ‘WHY’ is not capable of putting thoughts into language – hence the term ‘gut feeling’. Making decisions based on ‘WHY’ can also be toll taking as they tend to deviate from the traditional tendency of generating short-term revenue and redirect energy on building a sustainable funnel instead.
The Unavoidable Company-Consumer Symmetry of WHY
The clarity that a company has in the ‘WHY’ behind its existence is directly proportional to the clarity that a consumer has in the ‘WHY’ behind their purchase decisions. Under most circumstance, consumers may not be able to understand (or explain) it themselves, but their purchase decisions are always based on the ‘WHY’. Companies that failed to discover their ‘WHY’ and communicate it adequately to their target markets faced challenges that made them obsolete with time.
Getting Consumers & Employees in the Same Picture
Pursuing the ‘WHY’ allows companies to foster trust and generate a bond that is just as strong between the employees and the company, as it is between the consumers and the company. This is where the organization’s culture comes in. Simply put, shareholders on both sides of the value chain only feel the need to perform once they realize that the ‘WHY’ is bigger than any single individual. It gives them a collective goal and an inspiration that transcends other forms of motivation.Giving employees ownership of the ‘WHY’ allows them to see themselves as integral components of the larger picture. It gives them the reason they need to want to come to work in the morning.
A classic symptom of failing to identify and work on the ‘WHY’ is when companies start playing the price-and-feature game at the consumer end, and the sticks-and-carrots game at the employee end. Both produce short-term results while fostering zero loyalties.
Digital Marketing Dynamite 