I first learnt about Simon Sinek when I was at university. We were introduced to his Golden Circle model as a tool to build meaningful concepts for our fashion collections. I always liked the idea of my projects being more than just cool garments, so the model resonated with me deeply.
If you’ve never come across the Golden Circle, here’s a quick breakdown. The model helps us understand why we do what we do — and make it the driving force of our business. It has three layers:
- Why: the purpose, cause, or belief. The reason a company exists.
- How: the values and principles that guide how you bring your cause to life.
- What: the results of your actions — everything you say and do.
Credit: Simon Sinek
At first, this may sound very business-like, but it’s just as powerful in fashion. For example, here’s how I used the model in one of my university projects:
- Why:
- To empower women, improve their self-esteem
- To embrace that female bodies keep changing
- To provide high quality, comfortable garments that women want to wear
- To prolong the lifespan of the clothes
- How:
- Focusing on embracing and flattering female bodies
- Sending empowering message
- Including adjustable features
- Playing with different expressions of femininity
- Ensuring high quality and longevity of the garments, responsibly produced
- What:
- A womenswear ready-to-wear collection delving into an issue of losing control over one’s own body caused by conforming to social pressure put on women regarding their physical attributes and aiming to give the feeling of regaining this control.
If you’re interested in what the collection looked like, you can check it out here.
In this framework, why describes the overarching goals — the meaning of the collection, how I wanted women to feel, and how the garments should be used. How covered the design approaches and methods to achieve those goals. What was the collection itself — which is where most designers stop when planning.
I’ve been using the Golden Circle for many years, but only recently did I start to explore Simon Sinek’s broader work. As my interests grew beyond design into leadership, community building, and sustainable business, I found myself appreciating his ideas on a deeper level.
So when I challenged myself earlier this year to start reading books again (after giving up on them at 13!), Start with Why had to be on my list. I was skeptical at first — I knew the model well and had consumed a lot of Sinek’s talks already. But the book surprised me. It broadened my perspective on building purpose-driven businesses and gave me a few valuable lessons I want to share.
Lesson 1: Don’t manipulate – inspire
If I asked you what is the right way to lead a business — to manipulate or to inspire your customers — you’d probably have no doubt how to answer. Manipulation is clearly associated with something negative. However, in reality it’s not that obvious.
The book starts by drawing a distinction between manipulation and inspiration — and highlighting the benefits of the latter. Manipulation is about short-term tactics such as lowering prices, promotions, or peer pressure. They may work in the moment, but they don’t build lasting loyalty.
If your goal is to create an innovative and sustainable business with a loyal customer base, inspiration is what you should aim for. Inspiration comes from a clarity of why. By definition, inspiration is someone or something that gives you ideas for doing something. If you manage to inspire your customers, there’s no need to convince them to buy your product — they will be naturally drawn to it.
As repeated multiple times in the book:
'People don’t buy what you do — they buy why you do it.'
Inspiration commands loyalty and draws people to your business. Incentives and psychological tricks may work temporarily, but to keep your customers for longer, you need to spark a true willingness for them to engage with what you offer. With a clear purpose, you don’t need to worry about how to differentiate yourself — your uniqueness will shine through, and people will feel it.
Lesson 2 – Make people feel like they belong
When you think about the people you feel most comfortable around and trust the most — are they very different in the way they see the world, or are you usually on the same page?
According to Maslow, the need for belonging is one of our basic human needs. It’s the feeling we get when those around us share our values and beliefs. It makes us feel connected and safe. It’s the bond we generally create with our families, friends, and colleagues. But it also draws us to leaders and organisations that are good at communicating what they believe.
If a company’s why resonates with what customers believe in, its product will feel like a representation of who they are. That feeling is powerful — often inexplicable — but it’s what makes them want to buy.
Demonstrating shared values and beliefs lets you earn trust. Just like we build relationships with people by earning their trust, brands can earn loyalty from customers by communicating what they stand for.
Lesson 3: Success over achievements
Success and achievement — we often use these words as if they mean the same thing. But the devil is in the details. As with the distinction between manipulation and inspiration, the difference is in the short- versus long-term impact.
Achievement is something tangible: creating an aesthetically pleasing collection, marketing it properly, and selling enough pieces to meet your targets. It doesn’t go much deeper than that.
Success, on the other hand, is a state of being. It comes from clarity of purpose and the ongoing pursuit of why. In our fashion example, it’s not just selling clothes — it’s making customers buy them because they make them feel a certain way, because the garments serve them well, because they trust the brand and feel connected to what it stands for.
Achievements can be celebrated once and then forgotten. Success is about aligning with your values, delivering on them consistently, and finding fulfillment in doing so — season after season.
As Sinek says: When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help you. But if you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you.
Closing thoughts
At the end of the day, fashion is never just about clothes. It’s about what we stand for, the stories we tell, and the change we want to create. Sinek’s lessons remind us that when we lead with why, we not only build stronger businesses but also communities that last.
So as you plan your next project or collection, pause and ask yourself: why am I doing this? The answer might transform not just your design, but also the way people connect with it.