Doesn’t Take Much…

It doesn’t take much to make me happy!

That’s the truth and after what I’ve been through I suppose it’s understandable. After all, it’s a ‘low bar’ and just being here makes me happy.

However, in this case, there is a reason and that reason is significant. Significant enough to have written about it in a number of other blog posts. It is the idea of a powerful Why. A concept that suggests the What and the How of what you do will never be as important as the Why that drives you to do it.

If asked, most people will tell you what they do or how they do it. It’s a natural response. While I was in the shop we serviced, maintained, and repaired passenger cars and trucks. That was our What. We did it by employing the latest technology, the newest equipment, and the best training, employing what we felt were Best Practices. That was our How. But that’s what everyone thought they were doing. There was no differentiator!

Our differentiator was our Why and up until this afternoon, I believed I was first introduced to this concept through a Ted Talk delivered by Simon Sinek entitled How Great Leaders Inspire Action, which was reinforced by his book, Start With Why.

Our Why was ensuring the freedom and mobility of our clients. The security of knowing they could go anywhere at any time knowing they would be able to make it there and back safely and with certainty!

But is that why I’m so happy? The answer is actually a qualified No.

I’m this happy because I wrote about the importance of having a compelling Why in the management series I authored almost a decade before Sinek did and that makes me really, really happy!