NB: Some of my thoughts expressed here have been shared in previous presentations.
Arts, artists and intellectuals, with their capacity of seeing with new eyes, sensing
and perceiving mastery, finding beauty, meaning, elegance, rhythm, melody, harmony
and composition-can help us to understand many aspects of our life, like:
"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you
find out why."
Mark Twain. 1835-1910.
"Whoever has a reason to live will almost always find how." Frederick Nietzsche
"I keep six honest serving-men. They taught me all I knew. Their names are: WHY, HOW,
WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHO."
An exercise used as a problem analysis method based on Rudyard Kipling's poem, to
ensure that all aspects were covered to improve interactions.\
"Stay away from difficult people-they have a problem for every solution. Attributed
to Albert Einstein. How to handle them? This is a common question of business people
that encloses the assumption that they are dealing with abrasive, competitive, and
unethical behavior that makes them think that they are right and the other party wrong.
However, in a conflictive situation the other party can think that the other is difficult
and obstinate!
Daily we ask many questions, WHY? WHAT? HOW? Why we do things in difficult contexts
due to cultural, political and economic adversity? To learn, pay attention to details:
every aspect of your work, adopt an analytic mindset and ask Why? How? This Should
be based on knowledge instead of feelings, habits and impulses. What? We all know
what we do for a living-right or wrong.
Questions are useful tools, they open lines of communications; give us information;
improve interactions, facilitate analysis and diagnostics of a situation; allow us
to propose our own ideas; help to understand the priorities of others; stimulate motivation
to learn; motivate creativity and more importantly scientific research, explanations
and its applications happen in part through questions and answers.
Questioning everything
helps to understand the world round us and
Why
we do what we do? How do we do that is about technical issues and
What
we do is usually known. Why reflects beliefs, reasons, purpose and objectives of an
institution that eventually motivate its members to adopt them. Caution, failures
of human psychology can induce people to consider a single factor. Responsible answers
to questions can help to improve the quality of What we do. In addition, observations
combined with curiosity and questions help us to learn WHY we do things. (3) Modified
from Marilee Adams; Berrett Koehler Publishers, San Francisco, CA. 2016.
In general, people and societies know
what
they do and some are aware of
How
things are done but many of them ignore
why
they do what they do; that, in the end, has an impact on the outcomes. Please, if
you do not know Why you do it, do not do it!
WHY Matters
? Because it is the question that every project team member should answer to explain
the reason they are pursuing a venture. A compelling "WHY statement" is a useful tool
that aligns the efforts of the leaders, and team members, to improve the chances of
success. It sounds simple, but it's not. Often, a good why requires work and debate.
In medicine, doing things without knowing Why is risky. Many of the things that doctors
and nurses do continue simply because that is the way we have always done it. Still,
if they do know why, it does not mean that it was done correctly! Unfortunately, it
can also be due to lack of knowledge, attitude, or practices that eventually became
automatic. Doing things for no reason-ignoring why- can involuntary harm institutions
and patients. Abraar Karam. BMJ opinion January 17, 2019.
For doing things for a reason, start with Why because virtually, everything we do
and think is generated by questions
that make you think.
Many projects fail because their members are functioning without a good reason for
doing things. Failures are often due to not discussing, agreeing, or learning why
workers do things. K.A. Brown, N.L. Hyer and R. Ettenson. MIT Sloan Management Review.
Fall 2013, Vol. 55 NO 1.
Why do we work?
It is an appeal to reasoning rather than to emotions. Generally speaking, we work
for many reasons. We work to live and live to work. Therefore, understanding why we
work should help to improve our attitude, motivation, efficiency, productivity, team
work and quality of life.
How to reconcile with work?
Start by thinking what you owe to work rather than what work owes to you. Will more
money motivate us to work harder? Actually, not quite. The reasons people work hard
are more fundamental than most realize. Simply, feeling like you are part of the team
and made progress on a task can give you the boost you need to keep going. Work for
it! Modified from O. Kazhan, P Rosenfeld. The Atlantic Nov. 06, 2015.
WHY education?
Because the educational system does not fulfill its purposes. Therefore, new teaching
and learning strategies are needed in this evolving, technologically saturated world.
This doesn't mean teaching people to accept a set of beliefs without making a proper
analysis! This is because education reduces inequality, social problems, improves
quality of life - that includes physical and mental health, family, work, income and
the environment. Furthermore, democracy doesn't work without people capable to elect
honest and competent politicians. In a country with significant and increasing inequality
that is divided by political ideas, religious belief, self-interest, income, and with
a heterogeneous population, it does not come as a surprise that education is divided.
Social scientists offer competing models of class structure, and most agree that society
is stratified, among other factors, by educational attainment. Inequality, poverty,
suboptimal education and inadequate health care are barriers to Maslow' Sets of Needs.
American Psychologist Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory. 1943. In addition,
"No society can surely be flourishing and happy, if the greater part of the numbers
is poor and miserable" was the awkward phrase dropped by moral philosopher Adam Smith
when he revised his thoughts for "The Wealth of Nations" published in 1776.
Altogether, this indicates that there is a need to modernize teaching techniques because
there is a gap between what education systems provide and what is currently required
by the society and employers. New technologies, have altered people's work and lives,
pressing reformers to say that the traditional curriculum is not adequate.
Education and jobs can heal society. Authorities need to identify what skills are
necessary for students to succeed in careers and personal lives, and then modernize
their curriculums. Asking teachers to focus on a list of poorly defined skills is
not enough. Interestingly, Angela Merkel during her address at the 2019 Harvard Graduation,
address, stated "Nothing Has to Stay the Way It Is." Because the Berlin Wall limited
peoples' opportunities, the German Chancellor invited the crowd to think with imagination
about the possibility of precipitating what was previously an unimaginable change.
"The Berlin Wall limited my opportunities but it couldn't impose limits on my inner
thoughts... and that anything that seems to be set in stone or inalterable can, indeed,
change."
Factors that can have either a positive or negative impact on the benefits of asking
questions and doing things for a reason:
Attitude
is the tendency to respond positively or negatively to work, ideas, persons, objects
or situations. In addition, it also impacts the individual's selection of actions,
responses to challenges, incentives and prizes. An optimistic attitude, avoids negative
thinking, and helps with daily activities. Talent is natural, and attitude cannot
be taught.
Motivation: the enthusiasm to do things, and a reason for people's actions, desires
and needs. Inculcating motivation is not easy, but it's essential if you want your
team to grow and stay satisfied with their jobs.
Complacency and false urgency: Complacency
: people do little or nothing to grow and improve, justify why they cannot do, and
are unaware of the self-damage. False urgency: when people act and look busy, without
adding value to what they are currently doing.
Mental laziness
-- a reluctance to doing something despite having the capability-due to a difficulty
to put their brains to work. No matter how hard you work to get something done, mental
laziness is when you stop midway because it is not easy. It is when you give up because
you are tired or you feel that have done enough.
Perfectionist
, someone who avoid errors on a personal crusade for flawlessness. A boss, colleague,
or even a work friend whose values have almost nothing to do with reality. Studies
have tended to focus on their output rather than the effect
they
might have on their team climate or interpersonal relationships.
Finally, if we know
Why
, think carefully about
What
we must preserve. What we must improve? And what we must transform? In order to progress.