Remembering the Why

In a world full of clutter, it is sometimes hard to remember the “why”. Why did you get where you are. Why were you doing this in the first place. Why have you made certain choices. The why, or the North Star as someone call it, can truly make or break it in life and in business.

Start with Why

I am reading Simon Sinek’s book “Start with Why” and it is hard to stop my brain from spinning and finding all sorts of analogies. The examples of companies where the why is clear and the success is infallible abound. As there are examples of companies of when the why gets “fuzzy”, especially post the departure of a charismatic founder, and the impact it has. Amongst different business books trying to talk about culture, or how to sell, or how to grow, this book has a single focus, which is on the importance of having and knowing a why, and how its presence can define the outcomes in very real terms. How Walmart was loved when they had a why, and how it got lost and the sentiment quickly moved the opposite way. How Apple lost it along the way and brought Jobs back. Dell. Microsoft. Starbucks. They started not with a mission to produce a specific product, but with a mission to change the world or the experience in some shaper or form. How they did it was secondary, but perfectly aligned.

The How and the Why

I am often a how person. You give me a problem, I will get on with fixing it. Get a list done, go through the motions, not stop a second. I get things done because I am not afraid of getting my hands dirty and because I am somewhat obsessively detailed. However, over time, I have learnt that was not where my core strength was. My strength was in the why, be it at work or at the charity. My driving force was on why and it is now perhaps even clearer than before.

Before I started this exploration year, I sat down to go through the things I do, did and wish I did so I could look at my future life as a portfolio. In the beginning, the collection of colourful post-its made little sense to me. I was eager to connect them. I felt like I needed a rational reason for being the way I was, for wanting the things I did. The Venn Diagram did not spit out the perfect formula or answer, but no doubt I suddenly realized connections and ultimately, a why. My why is making a difference one life, one business, one person at a time. But I do have to remind myself of that at times. Especially when my how mode kicks in and I feel there is more I can do, there is so much I am not doing.

The Why Leader

At the charity, I have often been the why leader. Because I was not present day to day, I was more able to keep the true north alive than those entrenched in the enormous amounts of things we were doing. I stopped people to reflect on their work, to evaluate how things were, asked important questions, though not always urgent ones. It was a perk of being more outside the box than in. I had limited time to put on the how (and still did), but all the hours I was “away” (at work), gave me the perspective or the space to keep my mind on the why. And whenever I got too inside the how (like at closing accounts time), I was often overwhelmed and struggling to find myself.

In the last 9 months however, the how in me had to kick in again as we have been going through a lot of change and not enough hands. And some days you can’t get me out of that mode. Often I find it a privilege that I can just get things done for the charity in a way I could not before. But suddenly a book kicks in, a podcast stops me in my tracks, and then I remember. There is a why, we need to remember the why.

For years I kept going to visit the projects in Mozambique half for supervision, half to remind me of my why.  Last week, again I was reminded of the key WHY – why I have dedicated so much time of my life to this cause. Education does change lives. We are changing lives. I am changing lives. And that is important to remember, because that will help set the right priorities and how we do things. Back for a week now, I feel tempted to submerge in the how and get on with the long to do list. But listening to the book has reminded me that I need to embody the why every day, or we will just get lost.

Finding your North

During the due diligence stage of the first start-ups for the Morgan Stanley Lab, I had a colleague who always asked every founder

“What is your North Star?”

At first, I thought the question was funny, almost silly. Wasn’t that a bit of a fluffy thing to ask a founder? How do you evaluate that answer anyway? But by the 5th meeting (going on 40), I realized how crucial that was for my own evaluation of the team and the business. Indeed the founders with the clarity of WHY were the ones that could drive the company through whatever ways they are delivering on that mission, pivoting and adjusting the how and building a culture around a north star. Everyone on board around the same mission ensures you are going in the same direction, but not fixated on the product you first start with. I have definitely added to my due diligence questions as a business angel investor.

From North to Path

Finding your North and finding your Path aren’t always the same thing. In fact, as we know from multiple GPS apps, there are multiple routes to get somewhere, and when we find roadblocks, Waze will tells us to take a detour through a road that seems a bit un-travelled, but can very quickly turn packed. Sometimes, we need to know to choose to stay the course, others to reverse and try again. I see CEOs claiming they are on the right path, but the question is, you know how you are getting there, but do you know where you are going? It’s not different in our personal lives. We are on the right career track. But why? Where are we really going?

A long time ago, I wrote about the importance of aligning your goals with your values. The concept is the same. There is no point in devising big goals or OKRs if they don’t follow the vision, north or why that got us there in the first place. Before you shoot that next email, can you write down your why?