{"id":9923,"date":"2014-07-16T14:33:01","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T19:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trainingmag.com\/start-with-why\/"},"modified":"2014-07-16T14:33:01","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T19:33:01","slug":"start-with-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trainingmag.com\/start-with-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Start With Why"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author Simon Sinek\u2019s popular TED talk urges companies to \u201cStart With Why\u201d in their quest to maintain sustainable competitive advantage in an increasingly complex, confusing, and cluttered world. Sinek argues that firms that focus on what they do or how they do it in communicating their value to customers lose their footing because they are not connecting on an emotional level with their customers.<\/p>\n

Sinek describes a simple model he calls the Golden Circle that has \u201cWhy\u201d in the middle, \u201cWhat\u201d in the next ring out, and \u201cHow\u201d in the ring after that. In applying the Golden Circle to Apple, Sinek contends that while Apple makes excellent computers (the What) that are beautifully designed and easy to use (the How), what people really connect to is the fact that Apple challenges the status quo in everything it does (the Why). It is the emotional connection with \u201cWhy\u201d Apple exists\u2014not the product itself\u2014 that attracts legions of followers to the Apple store with each new product release. Apple thinks \u201cdifferent,\u201d and people connect to the company\u2019s \u201cWhy\u201d on a visceral and emotional level. As a result, Apple enjoys a position of sustainable and differentiated competitive advantage.<\/p>\n

BALANCING CARROTS AND STICKS<\/strong>
\nGame designers also use a circle model to create compelling\u2014some would argue addicting\u2014 gaming experiences. Raph Koster\u2019s book, \u201cA Theory of Fun for Game Design,\u201d delves deeply into the game mechanics of tokening and leveling to maintain the ever-illusive state of engagement that resides between challenge and boredom. In focusing on what he calls the Magic Circle, Koster argues that game design is all about balancing carrots and sticks. The aim is to keep the gamer fully engaged in what Hungarian psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls a state of Flow: the mental state of operation in which a person is fully immersed in, energized by, focused on, involved in, and enjoying the process of activity.<\/p>\n

Closer to home, Malcolm Knowles, the father of Andragogy and author of \u201cThe Adult Learner: A Neglected Species,\u201d recognized that as people mature, they:<\/p>\n