Moving from the What to How and the Why

I recently watched a great TED talk (click here) by Simon Sinek about how the best companies and leaders inspire others. I thought his insights would be helpful as we think about developing a vision. To review quickly from the last post, a vision is where we are going (the what/where), how we are going to get there (the how/the strategy) and why we are bothering to go there in the first place(the why, the who, the problem that must be solved, etc.).

Sinek's TED talk reveals that the best companies tell people the why before they tell them the how or the what. He gives the example of Apple, a company that reinvented itself with their "Think Different" campaign (best commercial ever by the way) that communicated who they were, what they were about, and, because of who they were and what they were for, why they did what they did. He also mentions Martin Luther King, who never talked about the how or the what of racial cultural change. He only talked about the why, the dream. He pounded his beliefs to his audience over and over.

People connect to us over the why -the who we we are and what we are about pieces- before they care about what we are doing or how we are doing it. Most people, once they believe in your why, don't care about the why or the how.

For a church planter, I think there is great wisdom in this insight. We talk to people all the time about our visions for planting. We share before church staffs, large audiences, over lunch, through blogs. What do we share most often? What do we share first? If Sinek is right, we should spend most of our time talking about the why.

So...

1. The "what" is where are going. It should be framed by by asking the question "What can we do better than 10,000 other churches?"

2. The "how" is the things we are going to do to get to the what. It is the strategy piece. The unique practices or experiences we are going to create to make the what happen.

3. The "why" is... well, what's the point? "What" we are doing and our "how" will probably not be easy at times. Why should I buy in? What motivated you to do this in the first place? Who are you? What are you about? What makes you do this thing the way you are doing it? The more honest, unique, and real the answer to the question better it will connect to people who agree with you. The more generic it is the less it will weigh. (The more you spread weight over a multitude of people the less weight they feel).

A few more thoughts on "why." The more specific you are the more narrow audience you will attract. The more people you might offend. This is a good thing. Apple's launch into being the most successful company of this decade was the result of alienating some people as much as it was the result of opening their arms to others.

Also, whenever you are done crafting your vision and strategy, determine how you will measure it's success. This is where the what becomes more helpful. Why's are harder to measure. That's all for now. Thanks for listening.