The “Why” Before The “How”
Time and Effort are the two most under appreciated assets for any marketer. Why? Simple, because the default for marketers, and most business-oriented professionals, is to jump right in and try to figure out how to get to their goals and objectives. While the how is important, it’s worth nothing without first focusing on the WHY!
To me, working on the “how” before the “why” is a recipe not for disaster, but for wasted time and effort. I would rather spend 80% of the time focusing on the why, and a directed 20% on the how, than vice versa. Having lived in New York City for my entire career, I can tell you with certainty that the “gung-ho” attitude will only result in you becoming stressed, burnt out, and inevitably less useful and productive than you can be.
It’s a simple equation of diminishing returns. Think about the last project you were apart of where the talking heads around the boardroom became lost in the “how” before even considering “why” these ideas are valuable towards meeting the goals and objectives laid forth. Great ideas are nothing without a viable strategy and concept of the efficiency of the time and effort each will take.
Upon review of most projects, it’s easy to focus on the positives, but more important to focus on the lost energy along the way. How can we expect to improve as professionals if we’re not consistently analyzing the “method to the madness” and attempting to make improvements?
I’ll answer you, you can’t!
By focusing on the “Why” before even considering the “How” we’re able to illuminate our own bias, as well as the bias we’re given from outside influences or clients. I’ll caveat this by saying in some cases, the client IS always right, and agreeing upon the “how” rather than the “why” is an easier conversation given some relationships. What I won’t budge on however, is wasted energy, which is finite for all involved.
Think back to the same example you thought of earlier, now imagine if you had posed a simple “why are we doing this?” to the room before anyone began to think and strategize about “how are we going to do this?”....did the outcome of the project improve?
You’re damn right it did! That wasted energy along the way probably didn’t exist. Those stupid tasks you wasted time on only to be left out of the final presentation didn’t happen because you were able to ask WHY before even throwing any thought at the HOW. Sometimes, it’s worth being a stick in the mud to prevent a landslide of wasted effort!
