Do Yourself a Favor. Be Able to Answer "So What?"

In the past I've written about my third favorite question.

Here's another favorite:

"So what?"

I use it to challenge new ideas, the status quo, problems, solutions, etc. It comes in handy when developing new customer-facing initiatives.

Many executives have adverse reactions to proposed initiatives and I don't blame them a bit:

• They've experienced too many poorly planned and executed and expensive initiatives.
• There's been poor or no ROI of any kind.
• And perhaps worst of all, some initiatives have been implemented simply because of technology trends ("everyone's doing it").

Many executives, and those reporting to them, could have been spared a negative experience by simply asking "so what?"

Much like asking "why?" six times will get to the truth of almost any situation, "so what" will help you develop and deliver real solutions to real challenges.

Here are a few examples. You'll likely think of many others based on your company culture, past experience, financial conditions, market, etc.

• "So what's driving this need? What data is indicating there's a problem?
• "So what tells us the problem is in one process versus another process?"
• "So what makes you think the customers won't have a problem with the new system if we build it?"
• "So what impact will this have on our bottom line/revenue/share price?"
• "So what? Do you think this really matters to anyone?"
• "So what? Is that a solution looking for a problem?"
• "So what? Is that a nice to have or a must have?"

Hopefully I've answered the question to "so what" as in "here's my latest blog post." I hope you'll let me know.