Monthly musings on the evolution of a business leader

I hope you’ve had a great August and are feeling energised for September!?

This month, I've been thinking a lot about how our mindset and approach to taking action and making decisions changes as we move into business leadership roles.

At university, we take action based on the ‘what’.

As employees, we focus on the ‘how’.

But as business leaders, the game-changer is shifting to focus on the ‘why’.?

Take the Eisenhower Matrix as an example:

Whilst studying, you learned what the matrix is and the different components.

As an employee, you figured out how to use it to improve your time management.?

But as a business leader, the real question is why - why use it (if at all!) in your organisation, why is it important for helping you to reach your goals, and how can you adapt it to better serve your goals?

Here's why I’m sharing this:?

‘Why?’ is the definitive question for clarification. And we all know that clarity is a key component of achieving our business goals, right?

When you start with the ‘why’, this prompts you to ask key leadership questions that will drive your business forward. You’ll be focused on the bigger picture and the impact that you want to create so that you can determine what actions will be helpful to get you there.?

If you don’t start with why, it’s likely you’ll get busy ‘doing’ without challenging if what you’re doing will actually result in the business growth and impact you want.?

I see a lot of business leaders struggle with shifting their focus to start with the 'why’.?

It makes sense - breaking any habit is a challenge! It’s easy to stick with the familiar strategies of asking ’what?’ and ‘how?’ that have worked in the past, but that can hold us back from creating meaningful, intentional impact.

To break this pattern, here’s a few simple (but super powerful!) questions that will help you to start with ‘why’:?

?? "What goal am I trying to achieve?"

?? "What does success look like?

???"What impact will this create?”

This is also my response when clients ask me “What’s the best way of doing XYZ?”.

I always prompt them to go back to the purpose - back to the ‘why’.

If all else fails, remind yourself to channel your inner toddler by asking at least 5 whys.

How do you make sure you're starting with ‘why’ when making decisions and taking action?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Warmest regards,

Yewande

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