The Question of…WHY?

Perhaps my favorite question is a simple 'why'.? The TRUTH is, there is nothing simple about any why question because each answer offers a great deal of information. Why produces the most TRUTH!

Stick with it and ask why more than just once for any inquiry and you will begin to get at the real TRUTH of any matter but be cautious at how you ask! It is known as Five whys?(or?5 whys) and it a technique originally established by Toyota as an interrogative technique used to explore the?cause-and-effect relationships underlying a particular problem.?The primary goal of the technique is to determine the root cause of a defect or problem by repeating the question "why?" five times, each time directing the current "why" to the answer of the previous "why". The method asserts that the answer to the fifth "why" asked in this manner should reveal the root cause of the problem.

Sometimes, asking “why” can seem accusatory or like an interrogation. Asking?"why" questions can help you understand yourself better. Of course, too much digging into your own motives can lead to excessive introspection. And too much probing of other people can make you as annoying as the child who asks why 1,000 times a day.

So, I heard a story recently that illustrates this point. Overheard was an exchange between a young kid – maybe four or five years old – and whom it was assumed was his mother. He was asking if he could get some cookies.? She said no, to which he inquired?why not.? She made a comment that they hadn’t had lunch yet, so it would spoil his appetite.? He was persistent: “if we get it now,” he promised, “not to eat it until after lunch – would that be, ok?”? She eventually acquiesced and let the child get a box of cookies.? Either the kid simply wore her down (many of us have been there), or maybe it was in his line of questioning that she realized he had a better argument!

There is great power in inquiry – in asking the right questions to seek understanding, create breakthrough change, or improve performance.? In fact, I’d argue that finding the best answers – in business and in life – largely is the result of asking the right questions.??No less than Albert Einstein, perhaps, said it best… “If I had an hour to solve a problem…I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper questions to ask, for once I know the proper question, I can solve the problem in less than five minutes.”

Simon Sineck is perhaps best known for the “why” question.? His simple but powerful model for how leaders inspire action, starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" is the standard of the question. He gives several examples including Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers as testimony. He sites the example of “starting with why” as what he presents as “the Golden Circle.” This includes “why,” “how” “what” as the explanation how some organizations have been able to inspire where others have not. Check out his YouTube Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I-_0cnj_xQ for more information on this concept.

Facts, evidence, testimony are all produced by asking questions. Why and why not are two of the best questions to quickly get to the TRUTH, but don’t stop there.?? Determining the proper questions to ask will lead to the answers you seek if you ask them in the right way and, perhaps most importantly, listen intently to their answers.?

Seeking TRUTH…ask, WHY?

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