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"Why" now?


Everyone knows that if you are sincerely interested in making change stick you must address the question of "why". Amazingly so many focus a disproportionate amount of energy on the "what" and "how" instead of first trying to wrap our heads around why we need change in the first place. 



LOSERS:  Leading with "what" and "how", honorable mention to "why"

It wasn't long after the turn-of-the-century (boy if that doesn't make you feel old) in 2001 when I took my first job as a chief information officer (CIO). The world was different; we were enabling folks with digital technology that they could not find anywhere else. Rolling the clock forward to 2017, many enterprises are woefully behind what can be found in consumer grade tools.  Our timelines, between upgrades or introductions of innovation, were measured in multiple months and even years. Our efforts in explaining "what" and "how", combined with business process reengineering, left us in a pretty good spot with regards to influencing change.



WINNERS:  Leading with "why" and bringing in "what" as a second fiddle, barely concerned with "how"

Certainly, a lot has changed since the turn-of-the-century. In context with this post some of the most significant components are; prolific use of the Internet, powerful mobile devices, and citizen developers of applications.  Now it is more important than ever to clearly understand "why" you are implementing change. A stream of products over the years has changed from a trickle to a life-threatening wild river. All we have is the ability to clearly articulate "why", when successfully executed the "how" will become almost insignificant.



We must exert more effort than ever before in clearly understanding our customers’ objectives and wrangle this rapid pace of innovative change to exceed their expectations.  Hold on, we have only just begun!



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Next post:  leveraging building intelligence

See all of the "last mile worker" posts here:  http://lastmileworker.com

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