Start with why

Three Degrees of Certainty
When we can only provide a rational basis for a decision, when we can only
point to tangible elements or rational measurements, the highest level of
confidence we can give is, “I 
think
this is the right decision.” That would be
biologically accurate because we’re activating the neocortex, the “thinking” part
of our brain. At a neocortical level we can verbalize our thoughts. This is what’s
happening when we spend all that time sifting through the pros and cons,
listening to all the differences between plasma or LCD, Dell versus HP.
When we make gut decisions, the highest level of confidence we can offer is,
“The decision 
feels
right,” even if it flies in the face of all the facts and figures.
Again, this is biologically accurate, because gut decisions happen in the part of
the brain that controls our emotions, not language. Ask the most successful
entrepreneurs and leaders what their secret is and invariably they all say the
same thing: “I trust my gut.” The times things went wrong, they will tell you, “I
listened to what others were telling me, even though it didn’t feel right. I should
have trusted my gut.” It’s a good strategy, except it’s not scalable. The gut
decision can only be made by a single person. It’s a perfectly good strategy for
an individual or a small organization, but what happens when success
necessitates that more people be able to make decisions that 
feel
right?
That’s when the power of WHY can be fully realized. The ability to put a
WHY into words provides the emotional context for decisions. It offers greater
confidence than “I think it’s right.” It’s more scalable than “I feel it’s right.”
When you know your WHY, the highest level of confidence you can offer is, “I
know
it’s right.” When you 
know
the decision is right, not only does it feel right,
but you can also rationalize it and easily put it into words. The decision is fully
balanced. The rational WHATs offer proof for the feeling of WHY. If you can
verbalize the feeling that drove the gut decision, if you can clearly state your
WHY, you’ll provide a clear context for those around you to understand why
that decision was made. If the decision is consistent with the facts and figures,
then those facts and figures serve to reinforce the decision—this is balance. And
if the decision flies in the face of all the facts and figures then it will highlight
the other factors that need to be considered. It can turn a controversial decision
from a debate into a discussion.
My former business partner, for example, would get upset when I turned away
business. I would tell him that a potential client didn’t “feel” right. That would

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frustrate him to no end because “the client’s money was as good as everyone
else’s,” he would tell me. He couldn’t understand the reason for my decision
and, worse, I couldn’t explain it. It was just a feeling I had. In contrast, these
days I can easily explain WHY I’m in business—to inspire people to do the
things that inspire them. If I were to make the same decision now for the same
gut reason, there is no debate because everyone is clear WHY the decision was
made. We turn away business because those potential clients don’t believe what
we believe and they are not interested in anything to do with inspiring people.
With a clear sense of WHY, a debate to take on a bad-fit client turns into a
discussion of whether the imbalance is worth the short-term gain they may give
us.
The goal of business should not be to do business with anyone who simply
wants what you have. It should be to focus on the people who believe what you
believe. When we are selective about doing business only with those who
believe in our WHY, trust emerges.

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