How Donald Trump Used Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle to Win the White House
The Trump Presidency is officially over. And while the events that have followed the 2020 election are still raw for many of us, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the 2016 presidential election and how Donald Trump, a man who had previously held no political office, exhibited tendencies toward racism and misogyny, and made promises that seemed almost impossible to keep, had ever won the presidency in the first place.
I think part of the answer can be found in what Simon Sinek calls ‘Starting With Why.’ In 2009 Simon gave what would become the third most watched Ted Talk of all time (and elaborated on his talk in a great book called Start With Why) in which he outlines the principles of the Golden Circle (see image above) and Starting With Why. Simon uses the Golden Circle to show that most people, businesses, and politicians communicate using only the outside layers — What they do and How they do it (or what they plan to do and how they plan to do it). Great leaders, businesses, and politicians by contrast, communicate from the inside of the Golden Circle out. The way they communicate starts with what they believe, not with what they do or how they do it. They Start With Why.
In advertising, we talk about the Golden Circle (and Starting With Why) a lot as it’s a great framework for how brands should communicate (this is probably not a coincidence, Simon was actually an advertising strategist before he was an author and a motivational speaker). And we talk about it as an inherently positive thing, as something that can only be used for good. Starting With Why certainly can be, and most often is, used to bring about positive change — Simon uses the great example of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — but I think Starting With Why also helps explain how Donald Trump was able to ascend to the presidency.
The best example of Trump Starting With Why is his promise to build a wall on the U.S. southern border. And furthermore, that Mexico would pay for it. I can remember the Democrats and the mainstream media wondering why anyone would vote for a politician based on a promise like that. Racist undertones aside, there was much evidence to suggest that the even if you wanted to significantly cut down on southern border crossings, a wall would not be the most efficient way to do it. And why would Mexico pay for it? Surely, no one could believe Trump would keep this promise. And yet his supporters loved him and voted for him anyway.
The thing was, it was never about the wall. As Simon points out in his Ted Talk and his book, people don’t buy what you do (or in this case, what you say you’re going to do), they buy why you do it. The reason the border wall message resonated so strongly with Trump supporters was not because of the What (the physical border wall) or the How (paid for by Mexico), it was because of Why Trump wanted it — to Make America Great Again. More specifically, the Why that Trump was signaling was that he believes America is the greatest country on earth and therefore needs to be protected from change at all cost. This is what Trump supporters believe as well. They weren’t buying the wall, they were buying the man who believes what they believe and who in any situation, in whatever ways he could, would always protect America’s greatness as they saw it.
This explains how he was able to garner such passion and loyalty from his followers in ways that other politicians weren’t. No other Republican politician has been able to inspire such a loyal following since Abraham Lincoln in the 1860s. The reason for that is because like Simon points out, most politicians communicate their plans (the What and the How), but not the Why behind them. And if they fail to execute their exact plans, there’s nothing that keeps anyone loyal to them. George H.W. Bush said “read my lips, no new taxes” and then raised taxes and lost his bid for reelection (without most of the external factors that ultimately brought down Trump).
Trump’s Starting With Why also explains why through a first term of controversy, divisiveness, race baiting, impeachment, a mishandled pandemic, an economic crisis, and crucially, not completing a border wall, he lost almost no supporters (and actually got more votes in 2020 than in 2016). Through the lens of the Golden Circle and Starting With Why, Trump actually kept his implicit promise — to always do whatever he could to protect the greatness of America as he and his supporters see it.
One question I’ve gone back and forth on is, did Trump know that this is what he was doing or did he just luck into it? Luck absolutely played a part but in his own way, I do believe Trump knew that he was using the principles of the Golden Circle. Trump almost certainly did not study the Golden Circle and use it to develop his communication strategy but he was trying to tap into emotion (above reason) in ways that other politicians don’t. Trump doesn’t think that in the 2016 election he played the same game as other politicians only better, he knows he was playing a different game.
I recognize that there are many factors that explain Trump’s rise to the presidency in 2016 and this is not meant to be an all-encompassing argument. But it is meant to explain a part of the Trump paradigm that is being overlooked. Trump has shown us that the Golden Circle and Starting With Why are not intrinsically positive, but rather they are extremely powerful tools that can be used for any purpose. It’s critical that we understand the Golden Circle, not just because it can be used for good — to make us better leaders, to inspire others, to lead to great achievements, and to bring about positive change — but because when we don’t recognize it, it can be used for bad as well.