Whitney Johnson is a leading thinker on driving innovation via personal disruption and a co-founder of Clayton Christensen’s investment firm Rose Park Advisors. A TEDx speaker, author of Dare, Dream, Do: Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream, and regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Whitney is available for both speaking and consulting. You can follow her on Linkedin here.
Where There’s a Why, There’s a Way
At least once a week, I hear my son, a sophomore in high school, say, “What is the point of school? I am never going to use [insert subject] again.” He may or may not, depending on his chosen profession. My counter argument tends to be, “You may not use all of it. Some of it you will. Regardless, good grades get you into college, and knowing how to work gets you into a happy life.” On days when I’m desperate, or just exasperated, I huff (and I puff), “Do it because I said to.” At which point I lament aloud, “Why doesn’t he have a vision for what his future might hold?”
In her provocative piece, “The Last Thing You Need Is Vision,” Jesse Lyn Stoner explores the notion that “vision is overrated.” She doesn’t think it is, but she has me wondering if I do. In all my work on dreaming and disrupting, I place an emphasis on the discovery-driven approach — you can’t see the end from the beginning when you play where no one else is playing, so simply start. There is little in my writing on the endpoint, or vision.
As I consider my apparent double talk, am I really suggesting that vision is overrated? Compare Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, says negotiating expert Jim Camp. Lincoln had a vision of saving the Union at any cost. As a general of the Union troops, Grant hewed without hesitation to Lincoln’s vision. “But as a president, Grant was a failure, taking bad advice, making bad decisions, mainly because he didn’t know why he was president and what he hoped to accomplish.” To paraphrase Proverbs, Where there is no vision, we really do perish.
Erin Newkirk, the founder of RedStamp, provides a good case study in grappling with this paradox. After the birth of her first child and a devastating diagnosis for her dad’s health, Erin’s life became overwhelmingly busy, so much so that she felt out-of-touch with those she loved. In trying to live in a world that she envisioned, Erin started an online reminder service mixed with high-end occasion cards. That was 2004. But as her business grew, what she envisioned became blurry, as she focused on fine paper and cards, the accoutrements of correspondence, rather than on relationships. Only when she pivoted and re-focused on making it easier for people to connect – and utilized mobile technology, which by 2008-2009 had become available, – did RedStamp evolve into an easy way to send correspondence not only via mail, but also e-mail, text messaging, Facebook and Twitter. RedStamp was just honored by Entrepreneur Magazine as 1 of 100 Brilliant Companies.
Once you know your greater purpose, there are lots of roads that will take you there. Consider, for example, the journey of a solitary e-mail message. Whenever you send an e-mail, it is broken up into packets. Those packets may travel the same route as all of the other packets in the message, or none of the routes. Ultimately, the route the packet travels is irrelevant, so long as the e-mail gets to the recipient. Or as Amar Bhide writes, 70% of all successful new businesses end up with a strategy different than the one they initially pursued.
General Grant knew his how. A purpose was harder to come by. When Erin Newkirk pulled her why into focus, she could discover her way to a how. I have only recently figured out my why – to help people believe it is their birthright to dream and disrupt. There are a gazillion routers, a google of hows, but there are very few whys. When we know our why, instead of seeing drudgery, we see discovery. Instead of aimless wandering, we see ourselves at the low-end of our personal S-curve. Once we know our why, there will be a how.
I am currently working with a Unitarian Universalist congregation that in the past ten years has gone from being a small group worshiping in rented space to a vibrant fellowship with a full time minister and their own building. But that feels like only the beginning. The question now is the one Whitney Johnson asks – Why? Why have we put all this energy into forming ourselves into a strong congregation? What’s our vision for the next stage of being together?
Betsy —
First off, congratulations on the growth of your congregation! You have been so clear on what you wanted… and for some reason, my mind whirled to a place of wondering if we always have a ‘why’ it’s just that sometimes it’s very different from what we’ve stated.
John —
I like that from mission drift to mission ditch. It is so hard to stick to our mission, and building off of what Betsy said, I think there are things I need to do to further my ‘why’ but because they are uncomfortable for me — or new — I dismiss them.
Thanks to you both for clarifying my thinking.
Best,
Whitney
Hi Jesse
Another great post in the series! I have been and continue to be a massive advocate for being focused on your ‘Why’! Consistently returning to and refreshing your vision is pivotal, if you expect to achieve success long term! I see regular signs in the corporate and public sectors of not just mission drift, or even mission creep but now, increasingly, ‘mission ditch’! Chasing money ~ often just to survive ~ is akin to becoming an organisational lemming! It will end in tears … and probably worse eventually!
Thanks for putting together this great series of articles.
John
Hi John. Thanks for jumping into the conversation. I also have observed that a lot of people think the purpose of their company is to make money. Love your term “mission ditch.” I’m excited to be able to put this series together. Each person has taken a different approach to the topic of vision, and together they provide a powerful and useful perspective.
Love this Whitney! And thanks for the shout out. 🙂 It’s interesting you should frame up vision as a why statement. At a previous (smart) consumer marketing company, we used to do what we called the “why” exercise — i.e., keep asking “why” to uncover needs/want/human motivation(s) until you have an”aha!” / discovery moment. I think the same thing could apply here. Keep asking yourself “why” something is important to you (or why it’s not) and you will quickly discover true meaning. If I might be so bold, you might want to go another “why” or two deeper because I think the why to your why is one of the kindest raison d’êtres out there…xo
This is an encouraging message. I am 71 years old and trying to redefine who I am at this stage of my life. Why am I still alive? What is my purpose now? Maybe we have to keep answering the why questions. Your son is only just beginning to know that.
Whitney, I love your last line-“once we know our why, there will be a how.” Great tag line to remember and to share with those we coach. Thank you.
Hi Whitney
You are very welcome. I think a personal struggle for ‘Why’, like Marye at 71 trying to redefine who she is, is both difficult and impressive! I also think that even though things may feel uncomfortable, they serve a purpose in helping us to stop, reflect and define a refreshed pathway and WHY! I wish you both well in your search for a refreshed WHY and a brilliant weekend!
Thank you for the comments.
Kind regards
John
Erin —
Yours is a company that is a delight to profile – and thank you for the lovely compliment. “If you go a why or two deeper…” I will treasure that.
Whitney
Marye —
I really appreciate your perspective. It is so easy to think that when we are our current age + 10 that we will know ‘everything’. And then we don’t. Yours is a reminder that the question ‘why’ is always relevant. If we will combine ‘why’ with our experience, there is quite possibly even more to contribute. In case you are interested, I just wrote a piece on this topic: Entrepreneurs Get Better With Age.
http://blogs.hbr.org/johnson/2013/06/entrepreneurs-get-better-with.html?utm_content=buffera09ba&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer
Best,
Whitney
Thank you Fay and John! Much appreciated.
As a Business Coach, we often work on this area with businesses seeking alignment.
Put simply, once you get clear on the Why, the How is easy.
Simply, yet elegantly, put, Tom. “Why” is such an important question. And yet we don’t ask it enough. I wonder if we are inadvertently training children to stop asking it at an early age. For example, when we answer their “why?” with “because I said so.”
Jesse, thank you.
To expand on this, this is one of the distinctions for us at Shirlaws in running a hybrid model (blend of coaching and consulting, as to client needs). In coaching, we “relentlessly listen” to clients, rather than jumping in to solve the first problem they present to us.
Often the first problems presented are at a “How” level. If we take time to listen and ask questions to “move upstream” to the source issues, the “Why” behind the problems… then we have the opportunity to add far higher value in many cases.
We are seeing this sought more and more by businesses and organisations with phrases such as “triple bottom line”, but where I’ve seen it really “pop” is with a quadruple bottom line, or “4 Ps” approach :
– Profit
– People
– Planet
– … Purpose
When you have that type of “win-win-win-win” clearly defined in the business, the alignment that creates can make the “how” easy indeed.
Jesse,
Thanks for posting this series.
I know this is a leadership piece- not education but, I’m with your son, here.
I believe what is true for effective leadership is true for effective educators.
Something is wrong with education that is organized around compliance rather than engagement.
Students deserve to know why they are learning what they are learning-
If teachers can’t convey that- maybe its time to rethink what is being taught?
“Why” is as important in schools and classrooms as in business.
Especially in the 21st century when much of the content is available in devices in students pockets.
Its time to rethink traditional curriculum, worksheets, assignments… for relevance…to ensure that there is a compelling and credible “why” to what is being taught.
Well said, Lori. You are absolutely right, this series is as applicable to education as it is to leadership. Thanks so much for your insightful comments and extending the conversation.
The “why” has always posed the greatest challenge to me. Why am I here? Why am I driven in this direction rather than others. And, can my “why” allow me to find other “whys” that are synergistic? In an organization, the personal “why” seems to be the missing piece in truly garnering alignment. Your advice on how to get 28 senior leaders sharing their personal why??
HI Eileen,
I describe 3 activities to help people connect with what is most deeply meaningful for them. One of these might be helpful for you: Three Activities to (re)Discover Your Vision https://seapointcenter.com/rediscover-your-vision/
Why a powerful three letter word.
Why is like motive in a criminal case without it you cannot understand what really happened.
Find the why and you can find the root cause or causes of any problem.
Why is what gives us the reason to do anything in life, without a good why you will drift aimlessly.