People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it

This is a very powerful Ted-talk on how to build succes that I'm very happy to share with those who work in sustainability.

All great, successful and inspiring leaders and organizations communicate in the same pattern. And it is exactly the opposite as everyone else. In this TED-talk, Simon Sinek explains you exactly the basic idea of reversing the order in how we communicate.
He supports his view with examples like Apple, the Wright brothers and Martin Luther King.

Some smashing quotations:

- People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it
- The goal is not to do business with everyone who needs what you have, the goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe
- If we communicate from the inside out, we talk directly to the part of the brain that controls behavior, and we allow people to rationalize with the tangible things we say and do
- People who believe what you believe will take your cause for their own and share your believe with others
- We follow those who lead, not for them, but for ourselves

When we match this with cradle-to-cradle for instance, as an example of a very successful philosophy, it makes sense.

It corresponds perfectly with 'not addressing the Captain Spock of our brain (the reflective system of the brain, the homo economicus), but addressing the Homer Simpson of our brain (the automatic system, the homo sapiens). It is the part that is responsible for behavior, routine and decision as discussed in the green box, during the Recentre 'Milk the green cow sessions'.
To much time, green marketing addresses the reflective system, powered with rational arguments. Powered with facts and figures, while a why-driven value proposition shares a believe.

And we all know that the market for something to believe in, is endless