I was listening to an interview on CBC with Amanda Lang regarding her recent book The Power of Why. While I have yet to read the book, I was intrigued by her comments regarding our Canadian attitude which she labelled as the ‘tall poppy syndrome’ That means, we as Canadians do not like to stand out in a crowd and as a result we shy away from being different. How does that impact us – we are typically 30% less innovative than our American counterparts, we are more hesitant to take risks and when it comes to business much more traditional.
While all of this may be fine on the surface, it leaves us lagging for the long-term. This is where WHY comes in, the curiosity to ask why we do what we do, why we continue travelling down the same path, why we resist change.
Amanda’s suggestions – start thinking like a four-year old – begin asking why!
I think it is time to look at things differently. As Wayne Dyer says, ‘when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change’.
It’s time to start asking WHY? Am I about to become really annoying?
Betty
