The Golden Circle

What do you make of Sinek’s theory of The Golden Circle? How does this resonate with the work you have been doing about your own beliefs? Do you have a WHY?

    Sinek makes the point that historically people who create and innovate ask others to buy into their beliefs by communicating what they are doing, how they are doing it, and then why they are doing it. However, Sinek points out that the best innovators and creators, like Apple, who get the most buy-in and “early adopters” think differently. Their approach is that they start with the why. Sinek relates that by starting off by communicating why you believe what you believe and then going into the methodology and actions that need to be taken to make the outcome become reality is the best way to get people to believe in and adapt to whatever you are selling or persuading them to do. This is based on biology in that people are more driven by their limbic brain that drives their emotions than the other more logical and analytical aspects of their brain.

    From an educational standpoint, Sinek's theory seemed very similar to the Wiggins and McTighe's Backward Design Curriculum/Lesson Plan theory. Wiggins and McTighe encourage educators to start with an enduring understanding or "Big Idea" supported with essential questions. From there, educators take the standards that they are using and pick the best ones that support this idea. The final step is to "unpack the standards" and create activities that address the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve the final outcome or product that will show the demonstration of the big idea or lifelong learning. I found this to be interesting. Who came up with their theory, complete with similar concentric circles, first?

    Like I mentioned in my last post, I do a lot of PBIS work at my school. I have, as Sinek puts it, the innovators, early adopters, and the early majority doing the PBIS initiatives that I push out but as PBIS is seen as an "add on" and it is a tough sell at the high school level. At recent PBIS conferences that I have attended, they have changed their agenda from a strictly behavioralist view to a more balanced constructivist viewpoint. So it's not all charts and stickers anymore. It seems as if even the PBIS organization itself realizes the importance of belief and buy-in.

So why do I do this? Why do I believe what I believe? Why teaching and learning as a career?

    There is this Thai life insurance commercial that I love. When I am having a bad day I watch it to remind me about why I do what I do. I realize now that I do this because it gets into my limbic system and the emotional response that occurs reminds me that I have the resilience to keep going and not give up on any aspect involving my teaching career. When I think about my role as a teacher, I think I do what I do because it is my life. It's the reason I get up in the morning and keep moving forward. I can not imagine my life in any other way. Students need the security of a safe and predictable environment to learn and grow and when teachers take the time to establish meaningful relationships with students, everything else falls into place. That is what I believe.

Wiggins' Backward Design                                                                                                                                             Theory