This week, a small introspective detour from the usual succession considerations for family enterprises. I find that the world is too much in a rush to seek the what and the how. In this I mean that we as a society are often in too much of a hurry to quest for the answers, sometimes not asking the right questions. The why?

Many have written about this principle of asking why so this is not an original idea; Asking why multiple times can allow one to reflect to get to the root of an issue or problem or seek a solution. For illustrative purposes, let’s consider the following line of enquiry about a topic with which I have some familiarity (beancounter):
Why do companies prepare annual financial statements?

– The 1st line of answer: The financial statements set out the standing of a company at a point in time and measures the operations of the company over a period of time. Nice fact but does not provide much insight.
– Why? A 2nd line of answer: the financial statements allow the owners and management of a company to measure its performance. Getting better and a little deeper.
– Why? A 3rd line of answer: The performance of a company can be used by its stakeholders to assess the company vs. its competitors for investment purposes or could be for say a bank to determine whether or not it would lend to the company or perhaps a new CEO to assess whether or not to lead this company

…and so on. As the questions of why continue to get deeper, you gain a better understanding of the why. These answers, however, are not derived quickly. They can take deeper reflection and most importantly, time. Like a well prepared beef bourguignon, it takes a long time to simmer to enable all of the unique ingredients to meld into the delicious end state when it is served.

Our hurry up world can sometimes force us to make decisions more quickly than we may wish. This shortened timeframe may not allow us to get to the deeper reasons of identifying why a problem is a problem in the first place.

Next time you may be faced with an issue, try the 5 why’s method and keep asking why to get to a deeper level of reasoning on a matter.

Link here: The method of 5 why’s

Learn, consider, apply!