Lead With the Why
Back when I was in the radio business, Scott Wilder, a talk show host I worked with, once said, “You can talk, talk, talk until you’re blue in the face, giving me all the details so that I fully understand something … that I care nothing about.”
When the word needs to go out about an event, to promote an upcoming activity, or launch an initiative, most people’s default seems to be to simply gather the details and spit them out. We nail down the who, what, when, where, and sometimes even the how, and we broadcast the details of the event in various mediums of choice.
What a lot of people seem to miss entirely is the WHY. Why are we having this event? What’s the purpose? What’s the goal? What’s the vision? What are they going to get out of it? What impact do we anticipate it having? Why should they care? Ironically, we may even know the answers to all those questions, yet neglect sharing them with our audience – erroneously thinking that they are our behind-the-scenes measurable results that no one but us needs to know.
Answering the why up front, what I call “leading with the why,” makes an immediate connection, appeals to our audience, generates interest, and is much more effective in making for a successful desired outcome. When people care, they move.
