This Week with George Stephanopoulos was excellent this morning. What made it excellent? They minimized time spent arguing alternatives (more troops or not) and instead engaged in rarely heard, higher-level, and more productive conversation about objectives, critical success factors, and risks. Defense Secretary Robert Gates refused to engage at the “more troops or risk failure” level. He refused to be sucked into discussions of rifts and politics. When things are not going as desired, some stay the course because they believe consistency, saving face, and adhering to campaign promises are more important than getting good results. Gates refused to argue about the course and the options for achieving that course.
Why is it so much easier to talk about the means than the ends? Undoubtedly we simply prefer inventing, creating and acting to analyzing and disciplined thinking. The evidence is everywhere. I recently attended an annual meeting of an organization where the group argued about the contents and format of an internet survey. As a newcomer, I just listened until I could stand it no longer and then I asked what they were hoping to achieve with the survey and how they had been using the data from the paper survey up until that point. Silence descended. Finally, a brave, or clueless, soul said that they just thought it would be good information to have. The argument resumed.
I have a secret formula for getting the answers to your toughest questions. Interested? There’s one catch. The formula will work only if you search for answers to very specific questions. No general questions will do. You must articulate exactly what it is you don’t know, but need to know. To put you in the right frame of mind to get specific, imagine that you are going to ask your question of someone who is known to be monumentally impatient, tremendously helpful if you come prepared, and absolutely unwilling to grant second chances to those deemed lazy.