The Leader's Core Part 1 - A Root Cause

With every new book and model that becomes the day's gold standard, like the “Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” “7 Habits of a Highly Effective Leader,” or even a religious scripture, we are drawn about by the answers du jour.  It's like all the diets that are out there – Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers, and everything from Whole 30 to Keto.  When you boil them all down (diets or modern wisdom) you will find a lot of truth and systems at their core that work.   

Have you ever thought about what the outcomes would be if on Monday, I were keto/low-carb/high fat, on Wednesday I switched to low calorie/sugars ok/low fat, and then by Friday, I didn’t care anymore? The ticker on the weight scale would be going the wrong way! But we all know that diets are really based on lower input and higher output -- nothing more. (You, keto people, know that you can only eat so much meat and cheese before you can't look a chicken in the eye!)

Those I have met that have continued health success have one thing in common – consistency over and over.  They aren’t jumping around between diet plans or having every new option take them off track.  They have a focus that says, “I don't necessarily know which one is absolutely best, but I picked one and made it work for me.”  They make a daily decision to stay the course, to be consistent. By staying true to the chosen system, they discover the missing pieces and adjust as needed.

So, while I work with clients, I use world class platforms like "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” "The 7 Habits," and Proverbs extensively.  Many leaders erratically chase different systems instead of just focusing on disciplined consistency. However, the secret isn't the system (although I know not of an equal).  The secret is settling the most important part of my leadership – my core. Because if I don't lead myself well, I won't lead others well.

The Leader's Core are the parts in me that need to be settled so that the system I engage will serve me.  Essentially, to produce our most effective performance, the four parts of our core have to be certain and in sync.  These four parts are our body, our mind, our EQ (emotional intelligence) and our Why.   If I were to rank them by importance it would be in the reverse order of that list.

I want to discuss settling these four parts over the next four editions of The Insightful Leader.  This time we are dealing with our Root Cause - our Why.  It's the most critical.

While Simon Sinek has done a superb job at giving language to this of which you can see here or read there, I want to revisit it. 

By the way, if you don't know your "why,” you still have one – you just aren't articulating it.  Our Why is the set of assumptions that we have which are deeply formed in us.  To explain, all you need do is look at Chris Argyris' Ladder of Inference model to quickly understand that I'm living beliefs every day that inform and drive my actions.

My actions and beliefs deserve investigation especially when I'm not getting what I want.  So then, settling on an answer to "Why do I do this?" about the most important things is the starting point to strengthening my “why”.

Do you remember Dorothy being told by Glenda in the Wizard of Oz that she had to start at the beginning of the Yellow Brick Road to travel to Oz?  Did it ever seem ridiculous to you that she had to walk in that spiral to start down the road that was clearly just 30 feet away from her?  The point is that before I can run down the path of progress, some settling of why I am going to "follow the Yellow Brick Road" needs to be in my belief systems before I charge forward.

A key discipline of the Leader is the routine of examining the why (as often as is feasible and as anchored into the routine as can be).  When I’m at my best, I interact with my why constantly.

Start with "The Five Whys." 

When we start with this Why search, we take our everyday living and say, "Why do I do this?"  From that answer I then ask another "Why..?" question.  For instance, "Why do I think that?"  From that answer I do this again at least one to three more times.  By the time I get to the place where I have found an observation that points me to the reason, I have found my root cause.

Here's a simple example of “The Five Whys.”

1.       Why am I afraid to write this article?  I don't think anyone will like it. 

2.       Why do you think no one will like it?  I don't seem to be getting any new thoughts to write about.

3.       Why have you not had any new thoughts?  I assumed they would have come by now.

4.       Why do you believe they will appear on their own?  Because the first-time batch of articles seemed to come easily.

5.       Why do you think they come easily?  Every other writer makes it look easy.

Here then I have found an observation that I can handle.  As I type it, I can see the flaw in my observation and what I need to settle.  Anything that's good and looks easy never is.  So, I can adjust my approach to believe that if I stay in my practice of writing eventually, I'll break through (even if half the work gets sent to the electronic recycling bin). 

My new why is that for me to be a great writer, I have to stay in practice because I believe I'll get better results.

Every day, the Leader settles the stirrings and the concerns, the efforts and agendas by meditating on this approach to get to the root cause.  Mindfulness, meditation, and prayer have proven over and over again to be healthy.  When I do this, I interact with God and let His voice work through these answers with me.  So, if you aren't a God, Bible, Jesus leader – know that you settling a why within you is critical.  I'll go so far as to say, the most important thing in life is solving for causality.  

Take these steps on a regular basis to have the "Why" in your core at its zenith.

1.       Get alone in a place where you won't be interrupted.

2.       Process the "5 Whys" on the most important stirring you have in you.

3.       Find the observation and let it move you.

4.       Don't let want for the perfect next move keep you from progress.*

* Here's a quote from a friend that is sticking with me right now.  "Winners make incomplete decisions, Losers wait for perfect plans." 

Keep progress and getting into your own core.  Our leadership of ourselves and those we serve are counting on it.