why to ask why
by Cleo Ledet
When our lives lack purpose, it’s a sensation. Sometimes we can feel it acutely: we long for something new, know in our gut it’s time for change, and we are clear on our marching orders.
Other times you don’t get the signal quite so clearly. Maybe you try to fill the hole by purchasing green velvet bell bottoms, which prompt your partner to say you look like a mermaid hired for a 6-year-old’s birthday party, and of course they’re right… but you’re probably going to buy some red ones anyway —
I digress.
When a brand lacks purpose the signs may also be murky, showing themselves through seemingly unrelated symptoms like struggling to develop a strong innovation pipeline, failing to find a voice or audience on social media, losing share to challenger brands, or just not growing. There are many reasons your brand may be experiencing these problems, but it’s not infrequent that a brand comes to us asking for refreshed packaging (the shiny green bell bottoms of the CPG world, if you will), when what they really need is a clear and compelling purpose. Or at least a clear and compelling purpose to ground the refreshed packaging.
Even if you know your brand needs purpose, it’s a daunting task to find it. “Why?” can be an intimidating question. When I train new managers and art directors, I often coach them to do as much as they can with questions that start with “what…” and “how…” for this very reason: “why?” is ambiguous and challenging. Sometimes it stops you in your tracks with its magnitude.
But we gain so much when we know why we are here, why we are making changes, why we bother. When we can articulate a purpose for a brand, its communication becomes clearer, its message becomes more compelling, and audiences know immediately “this is for me.” We activate desire in the people out there who answer “why?” in the same way the brand does.
“Everyone who touches the brand is empowered to make choices that serve the “why,” rather than being limited to choices that fit the more concrete and narrow “what.” Why is important.”
— Cleo ledet
HOW TO ANSWER WHY
There are so many good ways to go about defining a brand’s purpose, but there are two frameworks that I particularly like. I like these because:
They begin with uncovering deep values, but are compatible with capitalism.
They acknowledge that purpose (even for a non-profit) also needs to help your brand earn money.
They provide a foundation for growth and change.
They help you think about purpose in a way that is deep and broad and big enough to guide a brand through years of evolution.
They use human language.
They replace vague marketing terms (like “equity”) with meaningful words and questions that are easy to understand (like “what are you best at?”)
They provide a framework for deep reflection.
If you, like me, find it comforting to have a form to fill out, rather than staring at a big blank page, these tools are a great way to deepen your thinking in an accessible way.
SIMON SINK’S GOLDEN CIRCLE
If you’ve spent even a little time researching brand purpose, you were likely screaming “Simon Sinek!” at your screen from the very first mention of “why.” The golden circle has become the quintessential tool for defining your purpose and letting it guide your action.
Who is this person?
Sinek is an author and trained ethnographer. He researches, thinks, writes, and educates on topics related to personal fulfillment, leadership, and business. He is probably best known for his Ted Talk on the golden circle (linked below).
The basics:
For his book, Start With Why, Sinek investigated the world’s most influential leaders. He noticed a commonality that made them different — they understood and shared the singular purpose that motivates their actions. From this revelation Sinek developed the golden circle, a tool that places why literally at the center of a brand. What you do, and how you do it radiate from why (visually & metaphorically).
Since he released Start With Why Sinek has developed a wide variety of companion resources designed to help you get to your why for a really-pretty-affordable-actually price (I’ve linked his site below).
Further reading, watching, and listening:
Sinek’s Start With Why landing page
JIM COLLINS’ HEDGEHOG CONCEPT
Jim Collins’ hedgehog concept takes a classic parable as the basis for its structure (and coincidentally it is also visualized as three circles).
Who is this person?
Jim Collins researches, advises on, and writes about business, organizational psychology, and what makes great companies great. He’s best known for his #1 best selling book on those topics, Good to Great.
The basics:
In Good to Great Collins develops The Hedgehog Concept. The name comes from an Isaiah Berlin essay “The Hedgehog and the Fox,” that uses an ancient Greek parable to describe two types of people. The fox learns and develops many different, complex strategies to catch the hedgehog. But, the hedgehog only needs to know one big thing to thwart the fox every time: how to curl into a ball, exposing its spines. Collins observed that great companies are hedgehogs.
To define a brand’s hedgehog you need to answer three questions:
The intersection of these things is your hedgehog. The one big thing to guide you.
Whether you are growing a brand, a business, or just yourself, I highly recommend Good to Great and all of Jim Collins’ work. His site is also a treasure trove of concepts and tools available for free. Link below.
Ikigai:
The hedgehog is very similar to the Japanese concept of Ikigai which loosely translates to “reason for being.” Typically the Ikigai model asks the same three questions above, and then adds “what does the world need?” In an age when social good is expected of brands, it’s probably worth asking.
Further reading, watching, and listening:
Collins’ page on The Hedgehog Concept
Collins’ other useful resources
Collins’ in conversation with Brené Brown
Defining a brand’s purpose takes time and investment. It takes reflection. It can be uncomfortable and require us to ask and answer hard questions about who and how we want to be. But, its rewards are many and, as both Sinek and Collins have shown, a clear purpose is the thing that separates the successful from everyone else. So before you buy the shiny green bell bottoms, ask yourself why (then go ahead and buy them anyway).