The Golden Circle (And Choosing And Outfitter)

tarbe

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So I was in RSA all last week, at the global HQ.

In typical annual meeting fashion, there were gatherings and workshops all day, punctuated by late dinners, for 5 days straight. This, on top of all the time in airplanes and airports, and the 8 hour time difference, made for a pretty grueling week!

One session made the trip worth it, for me. It was a session discussing "The Golden Circle".

ToolsHero_The-golden-circle-Simon-Sinek.png


The basic idea was that whether we are buying or selling, at the most rudimentary level, we all understand the "what" of the product/service we are buying or selling.

Using our example of a safari, we might say "I am buying a buffalo hunt".

The next level of understanding requires us to examine the "how". Are we going to drive around a farm and shoot a buffalo (who is habituated to humans) from the back of a truck, or do we want to track a wild buffalo on foot in a very large area (to paint a picture of two extremes). Both hunts can conceivably be the ideal hunt for an individual...we must figure out which is right for us.

What sort of instrument do we wish to hunt with? Will we wear safari clothes, or hunt in a loincloth like @Bullthrower338?

Then finally, if we get this far, we might examine the "why". What do I hope to personally learn from this venture, how might this hunt change my view of hunting in general, Africa, conservation, the world, the politics of land use, dangerous game?

What do I hope to learn from the team I will be hunting with? How will their ethics, skills and beliefs impact my hunt? How will my presence there, and the money I leave behind, change the people, habitat and animals in the area I will be hunting?

Do the people I am about to hunt with share my views and beliefs at some basic level? Will they challenge me to reassess my views and beliefs? Will we all grow from having been together for 10 or 12 days or will we be glad to say goodbye?

I started out by realizing that not only did I want to hunt buffalo, but the desire to hunt buffalo had been with me for about 50 years and would likely never leave!

Then I started comparing prices and found that there was a huge difference from outfit to outfit, country to country, and amongst the different types of hunts.

I read hunt reports and watched YouTube videos of hunts. I saw PHs who immediately backed-up client's shots without regard to necessity, and I saw PHs who never took their rifles off their shoulder as they coached their client to a successful bag.

I saw outfits who focused on numbers and sizes of animals and I found outfits who focused on sustainable off-take, intangible qualities of the hunt, anti-poaching activities, research, community outreach, etc.

The more I thought about the Golden Circle and choosing an Outfitter, the more I realized that a lot of the folks here on AH spend a fair bit of time thinking about the why...not just the what and the how.

I also think the quality of our experience will often be directly related to the amount of time we spend on the why. The more we understand and set ourselves up for the why, the more likely we will derive maximum fulfillment of the what and the how - regardless of how that might be measured by others.
 
What? Buffalo and Eland

How? On foot with a 470 and 500 grain Swift A-Frames, hunting with men of character!

Why? Because next to my two wonderful boys it will be the best damn thing I’ve ever done!

I’ve seen a similar presentation but never put it into that perspective Tim! Usually in those kind of meetings I am contemplating suck starting my pistol or throwing myself out of a window.lol

Glad you found some useful food for thought at the meeting, although your upper management would probably be pissed that you can only apply their atrociously expensive seminar to buffalo hunting! Love it!!
 
Interesting thoughts you have shared here sir. I suppose each of us can answer the What Why How in his own way. One thing for sure is that I am hooked on AfricanHunting.
 
Thanks for posting this.
 
Great post. Also very relevant to the sponsors/ outfitters. If they sell/advertise the "why" of the hunt rather than the "what" or "how," likely to not just get more customers, but recruit repeat customers to their brand
 
For those that have never seen it. Simon sinek does an awesome talk on this subject.

https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action/up-next#t-360802

You should watch it.

I've read a couple of Simon Sinek's books, which were pretty good, but rambled quite a bit. Bottom line, "Start with Why".

@tarbe , Tim, I think you are trying to achieve "hunting nirvana" and that's a good place to be!

Achieving "Total Consciousness" ain't bad either...........:whistle:

 
I like it! Thanks!
 
I had to listen to a lot of Simon Sinek and "the power of why" at a previous employer. I love the fact that one of his motivational speeches inspire you to hunt buffalo. I now realize I took the wrong meanings out of those trainings.
 
Oh Lord - not here too! :( I probably secretly admired colleagues who would respond to these sorts of things - we had both corporate and sector “offsites” every year where the latest bit of insight was offered by a guest lecturer - usually with a book to sell. It was a major defense corporation and hence, 80% of my fellow company officers were engineers or MBA's (usually trying to disguise themselves as engineers). I was an ex-military subjective decision maker cast adrift in a sea of analytical thought. (Rather poetic don't you think?) ;) They seemed to have an appreciation for almost any theory that offered insight in "how" to think about something, or how to arrive at a decision - or better yet, how others should arrive at decisions. I regret to say (not very much), I was always the guy trying to work a crossword puzzle or his blackberry in the back row somewhere. :sleep: I can honestly say that even trying to think about thinking that way is nearly incomprehensible to me. In fact, to me, it is only a short step away from "self-help" literature, which is where narcissistic and analytical psychologists go to die. :unsure: Sigh, but I digress and am starting to rant a little - delayed reaction from all those lost hours. And I acknowledge that we do have a lot of engineers in our odd little community ...........

So for my fellow travelers who also don't entirely get this - go hunt the critter you want to hunt in the place you want to hunt it with the team that makes you feel comfortable! Decision made.
 
Like you I was in the back of the room probably reading AH posts on my phone. I know I broke the millenial model when they ask me what motivates me to come to work, I said money. Apparently they were looking for some type of social program.
 
Well Redleg, you don’t get the magic of the 220gr .308 Nosler Partition, either! :p


And engineers are generally (virtually always) data-based in their decision making - but the golden circle stresses the instinctual.

I agree with your last paragraph...my comments are only trying to lend some structure to the process.
 
Well Redleg, you don’t get the magic of the 220gr .308 Nosler Partition, either! :p

But you don't get the magic of the .300 Win Mag so....... :whistle:;)
 
Well Redleg, you don’t get the magic of the 220gr .308 Nosler Partition, either! :p


And engineers are generally (virtually always) data-based in their decision making - but the golden circle stresses the instinctual.

I agree with your last paragraph...my comments are only trying to lend some structure to the process.
"Structure" "Process" Can't help themselves. :Facepalm:
 
Following your circles, and talking about hunting, to me the process is reversed.

Why ? I enjoy hunting and are very comfortable with my outfitter and friends who share the hunt.

How ? ...we´ll make a plan :ROFLMAO:

What ? there is a wishlist, and then we´ll see what comes up.
 
Following your circles, and talking about hunting, to me the process is reversed.

Why ? I enjoy hunting and are very comfortable with my outfitter and friends who share the hunt.

How ? ...we´ll make a plan :ROFLMAO:

What ? there is a wishlist, and then we´ll see what comes up.

I believe the argument is that we should start with the "why" and the rest comes naturally.
 
I believe the argument is that we should start with the "why" and the rest comes naturally.

Bingo!

I love to hunt / It fills a hole in my soul / Self-Actualization --- Then the rest falls into place.



Being a simple man, I have never tried to quantify it like this before. Somehow I just end up in Africa with a rifle in my hands.;)
 

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