Fred and Ted

In August of 1979, Senator Ted Kennedy was expected to become the Democratic nominee for president despite having incumbent democrat Jimmy Carter in office. Ted was seen as heir apparent. Given the heinous assassinations of both older brothers, the “Kennedy Mystique” was expected to carry him into office over an unpopular president.

It was not to be. It was over before it started. A few days before announcing for president, Ted Kennedy was interviewed by Roger Mudd. His halting answer to one question doomed his run before it even began. Take 25 seconds to watch:

It doesn’t matter what he ultimately said (which was word salad anyway). That halting answer to the simple question, “Why?” doomed his candidacy. He stumbled for 20 seconds before he even began a rambling answer. He couldn’t tell the American people why.

Ten years earlier, Richard Nixon wanted to cut PBS’ funding from $20 million to $10 million. Rather than send CEOs and CFOs to Washington, PBS wisely chose Fred Rogers. Mr. Rogers decided not to read his written statement and instead only outlined it, saying, "one of the first things . . . a child learns in a healthy family is trust, and I trust . . . that you will read this. It's very important to me." (The world moves at the speed of trust. Mr. Rogers knew that.)

One of the first things . . . a child learns in a healthy family is trust.

He then spoke from the heart with a very clear answer to why he did what he did. You can see it here:

Ted Kennedy complained for years after that interview that he had been ambushed and that it wasn't a fair question. Yet it was the simplest question of all. Why? There is a line in the musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, “you're far too keen on where and how but not so hot on why.” This is so true of all of us. I regularly ask leaders “why” and am often told “how.” Or “what.” Or “when.” I will say, “Why do you want to do this?” A typical answer will be something along the lines of, “We hope to change X to Y and move A to B. We'll start with this and we'll end with that,” Not even realizing they are answering “why?” with what and when.

We're far too keen on where and how but not so hot on why.

So imagine this: You are in a public space. Someone publicly asks,

"Why do you want to _____?

Do you have a crisp answer? Are you ready for this? Do you know why? Do you know your why? There are many tough "why" questions. Why do you want your position? Why does your organization exist? Why are you leading the change you are leading? Don't tell us how, don't tell us what, don't tell us when. Tell us why.

Nietzsche told us that if we know our why we can withstand any how.   

Your personal and organizational why can never be too clear. People stopped clamoring for another Kennedy run after he couldn’t answer why. Mr. Rogers went on for another 32 years.

Oh, and by the way, Congress did not restore the $20M dollars.

The raised it to 22.