What's THEIR Why? A Formula for World Peace
Mark Goulston Posted on Friday, August 1, 2014 at 8:06AM 
Brandeis + Zuckerberg + Sinek + Mothers = World Peace
Before you read this... "Just Listen"
- Brandeis = Sunshine is the greatest disinfectant
- Zuckerberg = Facebook
- Sinek = Why
- Mothers = Rarely start or wage wars + have great b.s. detectors
Chief Justice Louis Brandeis once said, "Sunshine is the greatest disinfectant." He may not have meant it to mean that shining a light on something (for ALL to see) has the best chance for rooting out lies, deception and evil but I'm guessing he wouldn't take issue with interpreting it that way.
With Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has created and built (but not yet deployed) a means for shining the Internet on virtually anything.
Simon Sinek's focus on people determining their "why" is one of the best ways for them to determine their purpose and from that their intention (to serve that purpose) and then their strategy and actions to carry it out.
Mothers rarely start or wage wars (although women can do that in interpersonal relationships) because they believe there is not a principle worth sacrificing a child for. Men don't have enough oxytocin driven attachement to their children to viscerally feel the deterrent to sending them off to war to prove a point. Furthermore, women, especially wives, often have very good b.s., dishonesty detectors (which may be why many husbands who are prone to bravado and hyperbole have wives stay at home, when the husbands are out in the world puffing themselves up).
So...
What if...
The mothers of the world and fathers/men (that are not preoccupied with proving they are right at any cost) collectively via Facebook called out all of their leaders and even representatives into the light of day and the Internet and asked them, "What is your why?"
And then what if we all weighed in on:
- Whose "why" seemed the most honest, based on those leaders' track records of prior actions.
- Why those "whys" seemed most honest.
- Whose "why" seemed to serve a "rising tide that lifted all hopes" vs. special interests.
- Why those "whys" seemed to do that.
- Whose "why" felt right, made sense and seemed doable in the near future vs. too "pie in the sky" wonderful but completely unrealistic.
I know this seems far fetched, but the Internet is so far-reaching and finding out people's "why" so revealing, it might be worth doing something about.
Please tweak this, refine it, make it more actionable and then share it with people who have the power to do something about it.
And if you're a "gotta be right" hostile person, and think this is all b.s., please tell us your "why" you think that way and your formula for World Peace.
Mark
Simon
are you listening?
P.S. What's my "why?"
I would like everyone in the world whenever they are in a conversation with someone else to: "just listen" (which is why I wrote the book), PAUSE before they react, make the effort to understand the other person, make an even greater effort to care about what they hear and understand, and then respond.
If we could convert every instance of people talking AT or OVER each other into people listening and then talking WITH each other, in an instant we could heal the world, one conversation at a time.
Why not institute a "Just Listen" day every year?
Reader Comments (3)
I received this from a friend who consults internationally:
Mark – nice attempt, but the people you suggest Simon ask are all professional liars. They will spin beautiful “why’s” and then do the opposite.
That’s why “why” is never first; “who” is always first.
And the “who’s” in this case are the crowd. We’re getting closer to the crowd figuring out we don’t need all this leadership. Steven Johnson (Emergence) and Nassim Taleb (Antifragile) are the they guys we most need now.
Thanks to my friend above for "tweaking" my ideas.
I would add to his comments that "what" they have ALREADY done, not done and failed to do in actions over a period of time may be what defines their "who" and their "why."
See especially, The Mermaid and The Minotaur by Dorothy Dinnerstein, http://books.google.com/books/about/Mermaid_and_the_Minotaur.html?id=qZEN7BBaA08C. It is about acceptance with safety, not an easy task.