Start with the

Golden Circle
How Great Leaders Inspire Action
What did these four have in common?
All four
started with
the golden circle.
What is The
Golden Circle?
“It is a principle grounded in the
tenets of biology.” --Simon Sinek
Great
leaders
Think
Think
ACT
Think
ACT
Communicate
Why
Why How
Why How What from the inside out.
What
Neocortex
rational factual
logical detail-oriented
textual statistical
How & Why
Limbic Brain & Amygdala
purpose decision-making
context instinct
emotion no language
What’s Wrong
with What?
“When we communicate from the outside in, people can
understand vast amounts of information, but it doesn’t drive
decision-making.”
-- Simon Sinek

Samuel Langley
“When we communicate from the outside in, people can
understand vast amounts of information, but it doesn’t drive
decision-making.”
-- Simon Sinek

Samuel Langley
Focused on being “first”
“When we communicate from the outside in, people can
understand vast amounts of information, but it doesn’t drive
decision-making.”
-- Simon Sinek

Samuel Langley
Focused on being “first”
Excellent market conditions
“When we communicate from the outside in, people can
understand vast amounts of information, but it doesn’t drive
decision-making.”
-- Simon Sinek

Samuel Langley
Focused on being “first”
Excellent market conditions
Sufficient funding
“When we communicate from the outside in, people can
understand vast amounts of information, but it doesn’t drive
decision-making.”
-- Simon Sinek

Samuel Langley
Focused on being “first”
Excellent market conditions
Sufficient funding
The best minds
“When we communicate from the outside in, people can
understand vast amounts of information, but it doesn’t drive
decision-making.”
-- Simon Sinek

Samuel Langley
(Gave Up Because he Wasn’t first)
Focused on being “first”
Excellent market conditions
Sufficient funding
The best minds
What’s right
about why?
The Wright Brothers
The Wright Brothers

No notoriety
The Wright Brothers

No notoriety The right people

The Wright Brothers

No notoriety The right people

No funding
The Wright Brothers

No notoriety The right people

No funding Belief in the promise of flight
The Wright Brothers
(Credited with the First Man-Powered Flight, December 17, 1903)

No notoriety The right people

No funding Belief in the promise of flight
Why does
Why work?
We follow those who lead, not
for them, but for ourselves. And
it's those who start with "why" that
have the ability to inspire those
around them or find others who
inspire them.
--Simon Sinek
 One man,
one speech,
immeasurable impact.
Start with
the golden circle
Start with

Why
Sources:
Sinek, S. Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Portfolio
Hardcover: New York, 2009.
Sinek, S. (2010, May 1). Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action | Video on TED.com.
TED: Ideas worth spreading. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from http://
www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html
 Images:
Sun (slide 1): jenny downing via Flickr
Golden Lights (slides 3, 4, 15, 22, 29, 32-35), : EJM Photo via Flickr
Steve Jobs: acaben via Flickr
Orville and Wilbur Wright: Wikimedia Commons
Martin Luther King, Jr.: Library of Congress
Brain Scan (slide 5): Health Research Board via Flickr
O is for Occipital (slides 13-14): Illuminaut via Flickr
Samuel Pierpont Langley: Wikimedia Commons
March on Washington (slide 31): Wikimedia Commons