But what it showed is that actually this appeal to a higher,
not even a higher purpose,
but an appeal to why is enormously powerful.
And I think that one of the things that's going on
inside of organizations,
especially during moments of change,
is that we tell people we focus,
we go crazy on the how.
Here's how you do it,
here's how you do it,
here's how you do it,
here's how you do it,
here's how you do it.
I think it's true for leadership in general.
Here's how you make a sales call,
here's how you do a presentation at a meeting.
I think it's true for teaching.
Here's how you solve a quadratic equation.
Here's how you write an essay.
And we give short shrift to why.
Why are we doing it in the first place?
Why does it even matter?
Why should I care?
Why does my piece contribute to it?
And it turns out,
we can maybe talk about this in Q&A,
because we don't have time to go into it in any depth,
there is now a ginormous pile of literature
showing that this is about the most powerful,
certainly the most cost effective,
performance enhancer,
change inducer we have inside of organizations.
Which is just to explain why every once in a while.
You see a whole range of this.
You see a great study at Harvard last year that showed
that when cooks in a cafeteria could see the customers
with using a little iPad,
there's an iPad on the cafeteria line,
an iPad that allowed the people in the kitchen to see the customers,
the quality of the food improved.
Oh,
right, that's why I'm making an omelet.
Because people are going to enjoy it.
You see something with lifeguards.
If you have lifeguards read a story about
lifeguard saving people at the end of a summer,
they turn out to be enormously more
likely to come back the following year,
because they're reminded why you're saving,
why lifeguards do what they do.
And so,
one of the easiest things,
again,
if we add this,
maybe consider this for the dogma rules,
but consider it as a practice that you can take away,
which is this.
And again,
I just want to emphasize how much this sounds a little woo-woo,
it sounds a little touchy-feely,
it sounds a little nicey-nice,
but there's this rich body of evidence beneath it.
And so,
one thing that you can do,
I think a very effective leadership technique in general,
and in particular for any kind of change,
is the following exercise,
which I want to encourage you to try,
which is this.
Next week,
have two fewer conversations about how and two more about why.
Just try it.
I think you'll be amazed at how many how
conversations you have in the course of a week.
And so, twice,
stop yourself.
When you're telling somebody,
okay,
okay,
okay,
okay,
let's go.
Here's how.
Stop yourself.
Twice.
Turn it into a why conversation.
And I think you'll see an uptick in performance.