The importance of "why" and "how"

There is no shortage of people in the world ready to tell you what’s what. It seems everywhere you turn, you’ll find someone there to say what’s happening, what to think, or what you should do about it. All you have to do is turn on a television, hang out in a break room, or sit in a long-winded meeting, and you’ll understand what I mean: talking heads abound.

But those who make the most meaningful contributions to the discourse go beyond the what–they can answer the questions of why and how. Those are the answers that underpin a full-bodied analysis of past or present situations and the selection of options that are actually implementable for things moving forward.

I learned this lesson early on in my career as an Aircraft Maintenance Officer in the Air Force. Responsible for a unit of around 200 people and 20 aircraft, the what was thrown at me every day. “What do I need? I need two aircraft for this mission.” “What is going on next week? I need five birds ready to go for night sorties.” The list goes on.?

If I had left it with just that information, my unit would have failed at every turn. We needed to know the why, because that was fundamental to preparing for the mission sets the aircrew would be executing.?

Did they need specialized equipment? Maybe we only have a limited number of aircraft that have it installed.

How critical was the mission? We need to decide whether we’ll have one spare aircraft ready to go or two.

How long do they need to fly? That’ll dictate how much fuel they’ll need.

Thus, the what meant nothing without the why behind it.

I also learned the importance of how as a maintenance officer because being in a support role meant carrying out all the prep work for these missions. It was critical to understand every detail in how we would support an operation. It’s easy enough for someone to say, “I need three aircraft to fly from Nevada to Idaho for a week-long gunnery training,” but how would we do it? Sure, the helicopters can fly up there, but how about the rest of the ground equipment? How do we move the maintainers? How do we bed everybody down for the duration of the trip? How do we fund the thing? How do we adjust if there are problems along the way?

So, it was natural for me as a maintainer to learn the why and how.

But it has been equally important for me as a policy practitioner, whether that is analyzing the political-military environment, engaging in alliance management, or trying to build peace among former belligerents. Where I have been the most effective is when I could understand and articulate the why and the how.?

Here’s an example from 2014. I was working at Headquarters, U.S. Forces, Japan and at the time there was a big debate over whether the Japanese government was going to amend the country's Constitution. That would have notable implications on the roles the Japan Self Defense Forces might play in overseas operations as well as regional security dynamics. Plenty of people in policy circles expressed what they thought was going to happen:

“Shinzo Abe is undoubtedly going to amend the Constitution because he said he would.”

“The ruling party is definitely going to ram the legislation through.”

"We need to be ready for when this constitutional amendment happens."

Then there was me: the junior officer in the room. I didn’t have the bona fides or years under my belt like the others weighing in, but I simply focused on the questions of why and how.?

As to the why: there was no consensus on why the ruling coalition would amend the constitution. Some in the ruling party wanted to change the war renunciation clause. Others wanted to extend emergency powers to the prime minister. Meanwhile, the junior coalition partner in government didn’t want either of those things: they simply wanted to guarantee free education.

Then there was the how. In Japan, it takes passage by two-thirds majority votes in both houses of the Diet–that is, the national parliament–and then a majority vote via public referendum. This meant that the Shinzo Abe administration would have to gain consensus on a proposed amendment within the ruling party, then would have to do the same with the junior coalition partner. Then they would need to get a certain number of opposition politicians on board in hopes of gaining the requisite two-thirds majorities in the Diet. If by some miracle they could achieve all that, they would still need to get more than fifty percent of the voting public on board. From a simple mechanical standpoint, it was unachievable.

Thus, by understanding the how, I could explain that constitutional amendment was still years away, and I was right. I wasn’t right because I was somehow smarter or more experienced than anyone else engaged in the discourse–I was simply focusing on the more important questions, and that made all the difference.

I still apply this lesson every day. Whenever I consider an option, I will ask myself the why and how. Does the option satisfy my why; in other words, are we doing it for the right reasons? Then I’ll ask myself how we would implement it. If it’s not implementable, I need to go back to the drawing board. If it is, then we’ve got something from which to work.

So, how do you get better at answering the why and how??

Like anything, it just takes practice. When you see something in the news or read about it online, put on your detective cap. Media outlets will tell you what happened, then you take the next step of examining the motives (why) and means (how) behind it all. When you find yourself having to weigh options, don't just look at what the choices are--reflect upon why you might pursue them and walk through the steps needed to see it to through to completion.

Each time you practice this, you will get better at it. Pretty soon, it will become second nature, enhancing your ability to navigate complex challenges whether in the field, the office, or your personal life.

This is the first topic in "Lessons from a Practitioner" series. Check back in weekly for new installments!