Start With Why

a projection of a huge talking head on the screen in the front of the room that filled the entire wall. This apparent leader recited dogma and propaganda, stating proudly that they were in complete control. They had achieved perfection. They were free of pests. Or so they thought.
    Running down one of the tunnels that led into the cavernous hangar, a lone blonde woman. She wore bright red shorts and a crisp white T-shirt. Like a lighthouse, her complexion and the color of her clothes seemed to shine through gray air. Pursued by security, she ran with a sledgehammer. This would not end well for the status quo.
    On January 22, 1984, Apple launched their Macintosh computer with their now-famous commercial depicting an Orwellian scene of a totalitarian regime holding control over a population and promised that “1984 won’t be like 1984 .” But this advertising was much more than just advertising. It was not about the features and benefits of a new product. It was not about a “differentiating value proposition.” It was, for all intents and purposes, a manifesto. A poetic ode to Apple’s WHY, it was the film version of an individual rebelling against the status quo, igniting a revolution. And though their products have changed and fashions have changed, this commercial is as relevant today as it was twenty-five years ago when it first aired. And that’s because a WHY never changes. WHAT you do can change with the times, but WHY you do it never does.
    The commercial is one of the many things the company has done or said over the years to show or tell the outside world what they believe. All Apple’s advertising and communications, their products, partnerships, their packaging, their store design, they are all WHATs to Apple’s WHY, proof that they actively challenge status quo thinking to empower the individual. Ever notice that their advertising never shows groups enjoying their products? Always individuals. Their Think Different campaign depicted individuals who thought differently, never groups. Always individuals. And when Apple tells us to “Think Different,” they are not just describing themselves. The ads showed pictures of Pablo Picasso, Martha Graham, Jim Henson, Alfred Hitchcock, to name a few, with the line “Think Different” on the upper right hand side of the page. Apple does not embody the rebel spirit because they associated themselves with known rebels. They chose known rebels because they embody the same rebel spirit. The WHY came before the creative solution in the advertising. Not a single ad showed a group. This is no accident. Empowering the individual spirit is WHY Apple exists. Apple knows their WHY and so do we. Agree with them or not, we know what they believe because they tell us.

Speak Clearly and Ye Shall Be Clearly Understood
    An organization is represented by the cone in the three-dimensional view of The Golden Circle. This organized system sits atop another system: the marketplace. The marketplace is made up of all the customers and potential customers, all the press, the shareholders, all the competition, suppliers and all the money. This system is inherently chaotic and disorganized. The only contact that the organized system has with the disorganized system is at the base—at the WHAT level. Everything an organization says and does communicates the leader’s vision to the outside world. All the products and services that the company sells, all the marketing and advertising, all the contact with the world outside communicate this. If people don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it, and if all the things happening at the WHAT level do not clearly represent WHY the company exists, then the ability to inspire is severely complicated.

    When a company is small, this is not an issue because the founder has plenty of direct contact with the outside world. Trusted HOW-types may be in short supply and the founder opts to make a majority of the big decisions. The founder or leader actually goes out and talks to customers, sells the product and hires most if not all the employees. As the company grows, however, systems and processes are added and other people will join. The cause embodied by an individual slowly morphs into a structured organization and the cone starts to take shape. As it grows, the leader’s role changes. He will no longer be the loudest part of the megaphone; he will become the source of the message that is to flow through the megaphone.
    When a company