“Why” Questions Matter

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HERE'S MY TAKE

Defining a good rest or vacation usually involves how long we are able to go without thinking about work. We might say something like this: “I was away for two weeks and didn’t think about work even once.” We celebrate the opportunity for a time of refreshment that allows us to tackle our work with new energy. And there’s something to that. But I wonder if it is also helpful during that “time off” to ask different questions about our work that lead to insights about purpose and meaning. That thought occurred to me after three very different and unconnected experiences from the past week:

• From the PGA Tour
  
  I don’t follow professional golf closely, but I did catch the headlines that followed Scottie Scheffler’s pre-British Open comments. He challenged the prevailing norms of sports fans with his unusually frank soliloquy that winning is only “awesome for two minutes” and that golf tournament victories are “not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.” His musings were magnified by Scheffler winning the coveted Claret Jug a few days later. Even non-golf fans got to see pictures of Scheffler’s one-year-old son “waddling his way up the hill before face-planting into the turf.” The kid was cute; Scheffler’s response in the context of the conversation he had prompted about meaning and purpose was more profound. “Scheffler’s face lit up, laughing and encouraging his son to keep trying to crest the hill, before finally going over and setting the claret jug down, picking up his son instead,” wrote Paul Hodowanic for the PGA Tour. It only took a day for Nike to convert this into a commercial picturing Scheffler and his son with the caption, “You’ve already won. But another major never hurt.”

• From the HR Desk 

During an interview with a candidate for an editorial position, I heard something that struck me and prompted follow-up reflections. We asked the candidate something about metrics and satisfaction for a job that involved words and ideas, not easily quantifiable results or data. The candidate replied by referencing her previous engagement in building wells to provide water in impoverished countries. “It’s never satisfying just to count the number of wells we’ve built,” she told us. “You need to dig deeper and discover how the wells change the lives of people. It’s not about building wells; it’s about changing lives.”

• From the executive retreat

I’m part of a six-person executive team. Our rhythms include an off-site summer retreat, during which we conduct a detailed mid-year review and, if necessary, adjust our course to achieve our annual objectives. However, we also step back to consider our strategic and medium-term plan benchmarks while doing “blue-sky” thinking about some of the bigger questions. We’ve learned that it's essential not just to evaluate the health of our plans, but also the health of our people. This year’s retreat opened with an extended roundtable prompted by this question: “Are you at ease?” (The question came within the context of several of us having just completed our vacations.) We went beyond discussing basic work-life balance and physical and mental health to dig into a discussion of purpose. Time away has a positive purpose in itself, not just to escape from work and create space for other priorities. Reference was made to Genesis 1, noting that God’s rhythm of rest from His work was a contemplation and celebration of it, not an escape from it. And He noted that the results of His work were “very good.”

So, three very different situations all lead me to the same conclusion: being able to answer the “why” questions—discovering purpose and meaning—provides a more powerful motivation and preparation for what comes next than simply resting and taking time away. This is a newsletter focused on leadership, “connecting the dots” between what we believe and the everyday issues of public life. I presume most readers don’t merely take whatever information they receive at face value. Rather, I expect you to ask questions in your mind both to confirm the reliability of what you’re reading and to discern its significance.

Discernment is vital whenever we’re trying to get a balanced read on current events, for example. There are vested interests that want to push particular versions of events to prompt behaviours or shape perceptions through what we read. Personally, I find it fairly easy to analyze any text for its meaning or potential consequences. That is good, but it ultimately frames our understanding of the public square as if it were a complex chess game with multiple players. They all want to win in the same way, and it’s the tactics and the strength of our pieces on the board that will determine the outcome.

It would be naïve to absorb the news without conducting such a tactical analysis. Public life, whether in business, politics, or the civil society sphere, requires us to understand what our neighbours are doing and how they are doing it. Most of our behaviours come either in response to what others are doing or in a desire to shape their actions.

But the “how” and “what’s next” questions are different from the “why” question. It’s not always possible to dig down to the level of purpose and meaning. Scottie Scheffler was unusually candid on that score recently, which is what made it news. Reflections in a job interview are different than those made while performing the daily activities and routine nature of a job. An executive retreat is just that—a stepping back to take stock of the moment. However, the events of the last week reminded me of the power and value of “why” questions, both in understanding the behaviour of others and in setting our own priorities and goals. As we delve deeper into the “how” and “what” questions, the public chessboard becomes increasingly complex, and we become increasingly tired from analyzing it. By contrast, answering the “why” questions can be remarkably clarifying, liberating, and energizing.

This can’t become just another tactic. I don’t believe either Mr. Scheffler or the candidate we were interviewing was trying to impress anyone with some missional piety. In both cases, it was an attempt to express who they were and what motivated them. There’s a time and place to share that with others.

But, at least speaking for myself, my mid-summer musings and the time I took to become more articulate about my own “why” questions were as refreshing to me as time away. As a result, I was able to confidently answer my colleagues that my “yes, I am at ease” did not depend on next week’s headlines or how exactly we would meet our medium-term benchmarks. If leisure is about overcoming the anxiety created by work’s toil and routine, we need rest and time away. But we also benefit from rearticulating why we do what we do and how it makes a difference.

WHAT I’M READING

The “Big Fat Bribe”

Comedian Stephen Colbert lost his job after criticizing his employer, CBS, for settling a libel suit with a $16 million payment to US President Donald Trump. The consensus seemed to be that CBS would’ve won the case had it gone to court, but that it would also have risked not getting federal approval for a studio merger by continuing to give Colbert a late-night platform for sharing his opinions about the president. I appreciated Jen Gerson’s take on the matter, highlighting that whatever else may be at play, this amounts to “pushing critical voices out of platforms to appease authoritarian leaders.” I don’t follow Colbert, and from what I know, I suspect we disagree about most things. But when it comes to free speech and informed dialogue, we must ensure that it exists for those with whom we differ, if we are at all serious about preserving it for ourselves.

Protecting Privacy and a Free Press

While I’m on the theme of media freedom, all is not well north of the border either. Holly Lake’s analysis of Bill C-2, The Strong Borders Act, highlights concerns regarding the state’s access to private data. I could not help but think of the story about the surveillance of a Globe and Mail reporter who wrote critical stories about Alberta’s health authorities. To be clear, there is no evidence of Alberta’s government involvement in this. Moreover, Premier Smith has condemned the surveillance and urged an investigation. Still, the link between privacy protection and a free press is more significant than most realize, and the coincidence of these two stories only adds an exclamation mark to the concerns about laws that may appear technical and bureaucratic but potentially have huge consequences.

Not So Sour Grapes

Don Cherry is still a big deal in Canada. He has been the subject of two biopics and has become a national icon through his hockey commentary. Mind you, Mr. Cherry is also a polarizing figure—adored by some, despised by others, but known by almost all. A feature in the National Post this week, sparked by the current controversies surrounding Mr. Cherry and the speculative conclusion of his podcasts, offers an interesting blend of nostalgia, reflection, and intrigue. For those who want even more of the story, I read his daughter’s “The Don Cherry Story” when at the cottage a few weeks back and was intrigued by what it tells us about Canada’s past, and what the divided opinion about him says about our future.

The Boundaries of Social Shaming

I follow Kat Rosenfield, not because I agree with her perspective (which, on many issues, especially regarding sexual mores, is very different than mine), but because she has a way of honestly articulating the confusion which exists in the minds of so many today when it comes to issues of gender and sexuality. She provides an insightful commentary on the Coldplay kisscam couple that went viral this week. Rosenfield reflects on how the internet has transformed public humiliation into a spectator sport and is disconnected from the “limiting principle” once provided by community connections.

Prostitution Law Upheld

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed an appeal by two Alberta men that challenged the constitutionality of Canada’s prostitution law. The pair was originally found guilty of financially benefitting from prostitution by being paid drivers for a so-called escort business—one that was run by two convicted traffickers, according to the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and the Association for Reformed Political Action. Canadian law makes it illegal both to buy sex and to benefit from someone else’s sale of “sexual services.” The law is a recognition that prostitution is exploitative and, by its nature, violates human dignity.

MEANINGFUL METRICS

Livability Index

I’m a skeptic when it comes to comparing cities or countries’ “livability” or “happiness.” The comparative metrics typically reveal more about the evaluator's values than of those being evaluated. That said, they are not without their value in identifying trends and broadening the frame of reference for important conversations.

Still, I tagged The Economist’s livability index when I first read it last month. Its stated purpose is to help “companies calculate hardship allowances when they relocate staff.” This is useful in assessing what the index measures, and equally importantly, what it does not. It was interesting to note that the overall level of the 173 cites measured fell from the previous year and that Canada in particular, did not score well. Vancouver was the only city that remained in the top 10. Calgary dropped from fifth to 18th place with Toronto and Montreal also falling. Housing and healthcare accessibility are cited as the primary reasons for the decline in Canada's rankings.

TAKE IT TO-GO

Dock Talk

Given that the trade talks with the United States were the dominant topic of conversation, it was fitting for Prime Minister Carney and the provincial premiers to meet in Muskoka this week. We’ve all been waiting around for someone to snag an agreement, and while lots of lures have been cast, the only stories of success we’ve had so far have been fishy exaggerations. There has been more bait than bite, and the ongoing tariff talk does have many parallels with fish stories. That’s not to say the process is sinking even though the waters are deep—the first ministers all arrived and departed safely, meaning at least they do know how to stay afloat.

Out of respect for those who take fishing more seriously than I, there won’t be any angling here for a trophy catch. The first ministers' meeting did not make a reel splash, and while tariff confusion is giving us all a bit of cabin fever, we’ll have to wait for another before we collectively dive into the deep end of genuine reform. 

But fishing does require waiting around. Even if the politicos manage to successfully land a new bilateral deal by the August 1 deadline (which is becoming less likely—not a surprise since in my limited fishing experience, the fish usually don’t show up on time for their appointments), Insights will be away next Saturday, given it’s the Civic Holiday weekend in Ontario. Look for us again in your inbox on Saturday, August 9.

Enjoy your summer, whether it involves fishing or knot.