One Question to Help You All Year Long

The simplest ideas in business or life are often the best ones. My go-to business strategy book, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, has a real gem. As we embark on 2021, during which much of the complexity of 2020 will persist, I think you’ll find this idea useful.

Author Richard Rumelt describes a time one of his professor colleagues visited his strategy class. His colleague says, “It looks to me as if there is only one question you are asking in each case. That question is, ‘What’s going on here?’”

“What’s going on here?” A piercing question that can be vitally important and devilishly difficult to answer.

Stop for a moment and imagine asking (and thoughtfully answering) “What’s going on here?” in these situations:

-          You and your team are trying to develop a strategy to answer a persistent business challenge.

-          You have the nagging feeling that something is off in your team’s internal dynamics.

-          You have a deeply stressful work relationship.

-          You are trying to figure out why your career isn’t advancing as you wish.

Or maybe you have a high-stakes situation in your personal life right now that is difficult, complex, or uncertain. What’s going on here?

The only refinement I use with this question is adding the word “really” one or twice to encourage deeper thinking.

It’s a great question whose answer is so often useful and illuminating. So, why do we often fail to ask it? Here are some ways to keep the question top of mind:

-          Awareness. The ability to step outside our immediate experience to notice our external environment and our internal state (thoughts, emotions, physical feelings) is so critical to our success and enjoyment. Meditation is all the rage these days (see this Onion article). And for good reason; it raises self and situational awareness.

-          Patience. Action is both pacifier and addiction for many. With a senior client team doing company strategy work, I am challenging them repeatedly to be patient and willing to be uncomfortable.

-          Truth. I once asked a psychiatrist, the father of a friend, if he ever got bored listening to his clients. His answer, “Only when people don’t tell me the truth.” Is the truth ever boring?

A familiar quotation with uncertain provenance: “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”

“What’s going on here?” is a wise, all-purpose starting point.