Law of Diffusion of Innovations

As the law states, the first 2.5% of population are the innovators, and the next 13.5% are early adopters.

Altought quick to see the potential and willing to take risk to try new technologies or ideas,early adopters are not generators like the innovators. But both groups are similar, as Moore says, in that they rely heavily on their intuition. They trust their gut.

The farther right you go on the curve, the more you will encounter the clients and customers who may need what you have, but don’t necessarily believe what you believe. As clients, they are the ones for whom, no matter how hard you work, it’s never enough. Everything usually boils down to price with them. They are rarely loyal.

The importance of identifying this group is so that you can avoid doing business with them. Why invest good money and energy to go after people who, at the end of the day, will do business with you anyway if you meet their practical requirements but will never be loyal if you don’t?

Each of us assign different values to different things and our behaviors follow accordingly. This is one of the major reasons why it is nearly impossible to “convince” someone of the value of your products or ideas based on rational arguments and tangible benefits.

According to the Law od Diffusion, mass-market success can only be achieved after you penetrate between 15% and 18% of the market.

The goal of business then should not be to simply sell to anyone who wants what you have – the majority – but rather to find the people who believe what you believe, the left side of the bell curve. They perceive greater value in what you do and will happily pay a premium or suffer some sort of inconvenience to be a part of your cause.

Simon Sinek

A Company is A Culture

 

We do better in cultures in which we are good fits. We do better in places that reflect our own values and beliefs. Just as the goal is not to do business with anyone who simply want what you have, but to do business with people who believe what you believe, so too is it beneficial to live and work in a place where you will naturally thrive because your values and beliefs align with the values and beliefs of that culture. 

Now consider what a company is. A company is a culture. A group of people brought together around a common set of values and beliefs.

The goal is not to hire people who simply have a skill set you need, the goal is to hire people who believe what you believe.

The goal is to hire those who are passionate for your WHY, your purpose, cause and belief, and who have the attitude that fits in your culture. Once that is established, only then should their skills set and experience be evaluated.

Great people don’t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them.

Simon Sinek 

Trust and Leading

Trust is a feeling, not a rational experience. We trust some people and companies even when things go wrong, and we don’t trust others even though everything might have gone exactly as it should have. A completed checklist does not guarantee trust. Trust begins to emerge when we have a sense that another person or organization is driven by things other than their own self-gain.

Leading is not the same as being the leader. Being the leader means you hold the highest rank, either by earning it, good fortune or navigating internal politics. Leading, however, means that others willingly follow you – not because they have to, not because they are paid to, but because they want to.

Simon Sinek

Authenticity

 

Everything you say and everything you do has to prove what you believe. A WHY is just a belief. That’s all it is. HOWs are the actions you take to realize that belief. And WHATs are the results of those actions – everything you say and do: your products, services, marketing, PR, culture and whom you hire. If people don’t buy WHAT you do but WHY you do it, then all these things must be consistent.

What authenticity means is that your Golden Circle is in balance. It means that everything you say and everything you do you actually believe.

Simon Sinek

Make Us Feel Special

No matter where we go, we trust those with whom we are able to perceive common values or beliefs.

But when a company clearly communicates their WHY, what they believe, and we believe what they believe, then we will sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to include those products or brands in our lives. This is not because they are better, but because they becomes markers or symbols of the values and beliefs we hold dear.

We are drawn to leaders and organizations that are good at communicating what they believe. Their ability to make us feel like we belong, to make us feel special, safe and not alone is part of what gives them the ability to inspire us. Those whom we consider great leaders all have an ability to draw us close and to command our loyalty.

Simon Sinek

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Why You Need It

 

Apple didn’t introduce the iPod until twenty-two months after Creative’s entry into the market. This detail alone calls into question the assumption of a first mover‘s advantage. Given the history in digital sound, Creative was more qualified than Apple to introduce a digital music product. The problem was, they advertised their product as a “5GB mp3 player.” It is exactly the same message as Apple’s “1000 songs in your pocket.” The difference is Creative told you WHAT their product was and Apple told you WHY we needed it.

Good quality and futures matters but they are not enough to produce the dogged loyalty that all the most inspiring leaders and companies are able to command. It is the cause that is represented by the company, brand, product or person that inspires loyalty.

Simon Sinek

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The Golden Circle

 

Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do. When I say WHY, I don’t mean to make money – that’s a result. By WHY I mean what is your purpose, cause or belief? WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care?

When most organizations or people think, act or communicate they do so from the outside in, from WHAT to WHY. And for a good reason – they go from clearest thing to the fuzziest thing. We say WHAT we do, we sometime say HOW we do it, but we rarely say WHY we do WHAT we do.

But not the inspired companies. Non the inspired leaders. Every single one of them, regardless of their size or their industry, thinks, acts and communicates from the inside out.

Simon Sinek

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Manipulation vs. Inspiration

 

human behaviour (Photo credit: chinnian)

There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.

From business to politics, manipulation run rampant in all forms of sales and marketing. 

Leadership requires people to stick with you through thick and thin. Leadership is the ability to rally people not for a single event, but for years. 

Manipulations are a perfectly valid strategy for driving a transaction, or for any behavior that is only required once or on rare occasions. 

In any circumstance in which a person or organization wants more than a single transaction, however, if there is a hope for loyal, lasting relationship, manipulations do not help.

Simon Sinek

Inspiration

Inspiration Lake at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. For more information, see Wikipedia article Inspiration Lake. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Great leaders, in contrast, are able to inspire people to act. Those who are able to inspire give people a sense of purpose or belonging that has little to do with any external incentive or benefit to be gained. Those who truly lead are able to create a following of people who act not because they were swayed, but because they were inspired. For those who are inspired, the motivation to act is deeply personal.

Those who are able to inspire will create a following of people – supporters, voters, customers, workers – who act for the good of the whole not because they have to, but because they want to.

Simon Sinek

 

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