The *Other* Golden Circle

Some might refer to Sinek’s Golden Circle as a vision statement. Something a company and team should aspire to. We’re not this today, however it’s something we strive to be over the course of our company’s and team’s span.

If you’re in a brand or marketing role, this might even be considered the starting point to any and all messaging and positioning work.

And, if you are in a leadership role, this is what motivates you, and how you motivate your team.

There’s a second, more dastardly definition, which, given Sinek’s Golden Circle, can even have the opposite effect, creating a culturally-burning, roadmap-meandering and financially-devastating blow to the company, its customers and its bottomline.

How do you benefit from the (other) golden circle, whether you are inside or outside?

That second definition

The (other) golden circle is the circle of defense for any leader, self-insulated from the reality that is crashing around their role, their decisions and their future.

It’s the type of leader who no longer aligns their own incentives with the company’s incentives (or value, vision or mission statements).

The difficult part in working with leaders at the center of the (other) golden circle is the circle that sits directly around them.

That circle’s incentives?

By keeping the leader in place, they continue receiving a high-paying salary, likely with additional bonuses. That’s enough to keep this outer golden circle in line with the leader’s direction (no matter how meandering) while protecting their leader’s role.

After all, if the leader is removed, the incentives for the outer golden circle will be removed (and those roles may be removed altogether).

As the leader’s role and actions get challenged over time, the outer golden circle (likely managers all reporting up to the leader) is there to deflect and warn the leader of any coming challenges.

This enables a viscous circle:

How do you know?

There are a few ways you can tell that you are dealing with the (other) golden circle:

Today and tomorrow

The impact of the (other) golden circle may show in immediate steps with middle managers and individual contributors leaving the team or company. Then, the impact will be shown through major leadership missteps, such as missing key trends and being late in shipping updates to core products and services, resulting in misaligned financial guidance and reductions in resources.

People, Process, Tools

Of course we have to somehow embed artificial intelligence into the (other) golden circle: it (or any other new technology) is a scape goat for poor leadership.

If you hear a leader talking about AI in the sense of replacing individuals, that is code for protecting the (other) golden circle.

If you hear a leader talk about AI enabling individuals, that’s a leader who understands the importance of the people-process-tools three-legged stool.

A company or team cannot shrink to the extent only yes-men survive-there will be noone left to drive the company or team forward (or to blame for their financial missteps).

Waking up in the (other) golden circle

One day you wake up and realize you are either working with a company following the (other) golden circle pattern or you are part of the (other) golden circle.

How do you handle the day?

If you are on the outside looking in, look to the past year–how have project failures been accepted? Has there been any change within your team/company that meets your expectations? How close are you to the self-identified (other) golden circle? What is your relationship with the (other) golden circle team?

Is there a carrot-stick mentality?

Asking these questions then providing a truthful response to each one (based on the past year) will likely give you a good idea as to how the next 12 months will play out.

Then, you can ask yourself whether you have the will to stick around and fight (it literally will be a fight) for change. Do you have the stomach to make things uncomfortable? To wake up every day knowing your income, your healthcare, your “brand” are at risk and can be terminated without cause? 

If you realize you are in the (other) golden circle, that can also be a challenge since you have the trust of your fellow (other) golden circlers. 

Questions you might ask yourself are similar to the above, along with Do I risk my role in the (other) golden circle? and Is there any legal impact to me?.

These are difficult questions to answer much less ask and act on. However, it’s important to realize your role in making change and delivering the value you were asked to deliver.

What does the (other) golden circle look like in action?

While there are numerous private companies who employ the (other) golden circle approach (and difficult to identify because they are private–you’ll know ’em when you meet them), there is one public company who exemplifies the (other) golden circle:

Meta.

Compare Facebook/Meta to _insert any other tech leading company here_ when it comes to change, growth and delivering value to their clients over the last decade.