Question

Masterclass

Part 4

Stick to Questions Starting with

“What”

Peter Senge was big in the 1990s when his book The Fifth
Discipline and its theme of the learning organization caught the
imagination of executives everywhere. One of the tools he
introduced was called “The Five Whys,” a self-explanatory
process to work backwards through a story to find a root cause of
“a pernicious, recurring problem.”
Simon Sinek carried on that theme with his popular book, Start
with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (he
also has a great TED Talk). For Sinek, organizations must have as

their foundation absolute clarity about the Why of their existence
if they’re going to inspire people—customers and employees both
—to stay engaged with their brand.
Ignore both authors.
Yes, there’s a place for asking “Why?” in organizational life.
And no, it’s not while you’re in a focused conversation with the
people you’re managing. Here are two good reasons: