How to Become a Top 5% Leader
The most common complaint from my executive clients sounds like this:
“My team doesn’t get what I’m telling them. I spend time explaining but they keep screwing up.”
Likewise, their teams aren’t very happy either.
Rather than a small annoyance, such misalignments are deadly in today’s fast changing marketplace where:
Leaders need the bandwidth to see far and steer the ship, rather than micromanaging the crew.
Team members need to adapt to changes and disruptions, instead of waiting around for the next order.
The entire organization needs more sources of innovation and market touch points, rather than holding onto rigid centralized systems.
Unfortunately, the symptoms get worse the larger the organization is.
In my consulting session with Lon Rohfling, a Strategic Advisor to the California EDD, a government agency of 10,000 employees, a $1B turnaround project is in jeopardy because of a siloed, task-oriented culture where departments see themselves as separate rather than interconnected parts of a larger system serving customers. This in turn increases turnover and decreases the human resources critical to meeting the original objectives.
If the EDD were a commercial entity, it would’ve gone out of business by now. Fortunately (or unfortunately), governmental agencies can absorb a lot of inefficiencies and still keep afloat. Most of us don’t have that luxury.
Now, what if we can ensure proper strategic alignment from the very beginning with a simple framework?*
The Why, What, How Framework
Imagine you and I were working together. In order to execute the project successfully, I need to know WHY we’re doing something, WHAT we’re expected to produce, and HOW we’re going to do it.
Most people go straight to the low-level execution details without explaining Why it’s important first. Often it’s because they haven’t clarified the Why enough for themselves in the first place.
The order of going from Why to What to How is important because it walks us logically through the flow of understanding intent to owning the execution.
Here’s the Why What How framework in action. One of my clients is the CEO of a major Amazon brand. Let’s call him Bob.
It turns out there was a massive misalignment between him and the design team, who was fixated on improving the brand rather than the product, which was the real priority. They didn’t understand that if the product designs weren’t done to drive up sales in the short term, then there wouldn’t be a brand to enhance in the long term.
It dawned on me that Bob only explained the "What" and "How" to his designers and as a result, they didn’t understand the "Why" or true intent of the project. This high level misalignment created many downstream headaches.
Not only was the design team frustrated with, what seemed to them, unreasonable new demands, Bob was stuck in the weeds micromanaging the output.
The first thing I did was to help him clarify the “Why” to his team. Once that understanding was bridged, everything else fell into place. Remember, if you’re stuck at the operational How level, go upstream and troubleshoot the What and Why.
This framework works for both team management and consulting.
I start off every client call with “What’s the most pressing issue on your mind?” or “What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing right now?”. These questions are designed to understand WHY my client has come to me in the first place.
I then ask: “What would be the ideal output from today’s session?” This gets to the heart of WHAT is expected from our meeting. Sometimes they just need a sounding board for clarifying their goals. Other times, it’s more concrete like storyboarding an investor pitch. Understanding WHAT they need helps me facilitate the meeting to reach those objectives.
Finally, the lowest level of HOW is a collaborative effort as I mind map our conversation to separate signal from noise. This process is guided by the WHY and WHAT. Without the critical context and focus, we could easily be led down irrelevant rabbit holes where everyone ends up more confused and frustrated than before the meeting.
The leader needs to clearly lay out the objective and path through the forest before the group ventures into the trees.
After working with me for a few sessions, my clients, especially the CEO-types, tend to pick up on this framework and begin implementing it in their own strategic thinking and team management.
Cultivating a Why-First Culture
So many leaders are stuck at How because they all started as individual contributors (IC) who are only expected to think at the executional level. However, as they got promoted and moved up the rungs, they never updated their mental operating systems.
Unfortunately great IC’s don’t necessarily make great leaders.
The problem becomes systemic if these managers punish their direct reports for questioning the Why and “thinking too much”. It’s as if there’s an unspoken rule: just deliver your assignment.
Without grasping the underlying purpose themselves, they inadvertently propagate a culture of command rather than coaching—one characterized by dictation over delegation and development.
This is deadly in today’s marketplace because disruption can come from anywhere.
When people get the 'Why’, their efforts are grounded in shared understanding, empowering even junior members to seek solutions aligned with strategic direction, thereby enhancing the organization's overall sensitivity to market dynamics, while filtering out the noise generated by decentralized innovation systems.
When done right, even a giant organization can operate with the agility and sensitivity of a pianist. Instead of proposing 10 wildly different ideas for using AI, a new analyst who grasps the “Why” would strategically narrow down the top 2 options that best fit the team and organization’s objectives.
Understanding the 'why' transforms the most mundane tasks into meaningful contributions, resonating beyond mere process. It’s the key to unlocking the an organization’s full potential, fostering a culture of cohesion, innovation, and intentional action.
*You’ll see this framework used in all parts of running my own business, especially when it comes to strategic planning and execution. I first illustrate the WHY in the form of a process mind map that ties together the major components of my company. The analogy I use is a house with different rooms.
Every quarter, I review this map to determine which room I will renovate based on its impact on the entire house (this is the WHAT). Then I map out HOW I’m going to improve it and delegate the tasks to my team. This ensures that everyone understands WHY the project is important, WHAT they’re expected to produce and HOW it feeds into the larger system. You can see the whole process here.
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