matt higgins

How is a 3-year-old child smarter than a CEO? The 3-year-old drives towards root cause. I’ll explain. If there was ever a worthwhile obsession to have, an obsession with root cause is it. Think about that stereotypical 3-year-old and that word he or she keeps asking—why? Every answer is followed by another why? The child is in no rush and just keeps asking why. The child’s focus is on learning–gathering information. Imagine an executive from a major automaker talking with his or her own child about a big problem he or she faced during the day. It might go radically different than a conversation about the same subject with the company’s CEO and with far better and productive results.

“We didn’t meet our deadline on the new vehicle release.”
“Why?”
“A thing we call a prototype blew up.”
“Why?”
“There was a fire.”
“Why?”
“There was a fuel leak.”
“Why?”
“There was a loose fitting.”
“Why?”
“It didn’t get tightened properly.”
“Why?”
“Human error.”
“Why?”
“Well, I guess because we didn’t have redundant checks on a critical component.”

Without realizing it, the child is driving towards and arriving at root cause. Bottom line: if you want to be an effective leader, focus on root cause.