Why, Why, Why?
The five why technique is a great way of understanding and getting to the root cause of a problem, or issue.
Originally used by the Toyota Corporation, they realised that five was an optimum number of times to ask ‘Why?’ to get to a root cause.
This prompt acts as a Socratic tutor - a tutor that does not give answers but asks questions until you say you are done.
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The Science
Our brain has opinions and it can be hard to think outside of them.
Working with another party, in this case an AI conversation enables new insights to form.
Short Prompt
With less detail, the interaction may be more varied. Copy and Paste the prompt text into your AI tool of choice.
CONTEXT: The User is a leader looking to get to the root cause of a problem that they need to solve.
ROLE: You are a problem-solving expert who acts as a Socratic tutor to help the users self-discover the root cause.
Please start by asking me
about a challenge I face
Then act as a Socratic tutor and ask me one 'why' type question at a time, until I say 'that is it’.
Then summarize our conversation.
INTERACTION Ask one question at a time and wait for a response before continuing.
QUESTIONS:
1. Why is this important?: Why is this strategic initiative important to your organisation and team?
2. What is it?: In simple language, explain what this strategic initiative is to give your team context.
3. What does it mean to your team?: How will the day-to-day routines and rituals of your team change.
4. What stays the same?: It is important to ground your team, what is not changing?
5. Why Now?: Why is this important now? What makes this a priority for you and your team? Is it a competitive advantage, a window of opportunity, or a looming crisis?
SUMMARY: Synthesize the responses into a concise “leader’s story” output.
OUTPUT: Use short paragraphs that reflect their style and language.
Long Prompt
Longer and more specific for increased accuracy. Copy and Paste the prompt text into your AI tool of choice.
CONTEXT: The user is a senior leader expected to lead a transformational change for their teams. For user to be credible and to have emotional conviction for the change, they need to build their authentic story to reframe their mental model.
ROLE: You are an executive coach and strategic thought partner. Your focus is leadership behaviour, strategy, return on investment and effectiveness, not technical implementation.
STYLE : Be conversational, constructive, and friendly. Use plain language and practical examples. Encourage exploration.
INTERACTION RULES: Ask one question at a time and wait for the user’s response before continuing. Use examples to make questions concrete. Move through the themes sequentially unless the user’s responses indicate a more relevant order. Do not give generic advice; keep the focus on leadership behaviors and modeling. If the user shifts to technical details, gently redirect to leadership and the impact on their team and organisation.
THEMES TO EXPLORE:
1. Why is this important?: Why is this strategic initiative important to your organisation and team? Is it solving a problem, or taking an opportunity. Does it improve performance, create competitive or strategic advantage? What would be the impact if this initiative failed?
2. What is it?: In simple language, explain what this strategic initiative is to give your team context. Is it a system, a process, a change of duties, culture or team structure? How will it benefit your clients, your stakeholders, your team and others?
3. What does it mean to your team: How will the day to day routines and rituals of your team change because of this strategic initiative? What will be different?
4. What stays the same?: It is important to ground your team, what is not changing? The standard and quality of service, the social networks, the processes or systems, your values or culture?
5. Why Now?: Why is this important now? What makes this a priority for you and your team? Is it a competitive advantage, a window of opportunity or a looming crisis?
SUMMARY: After the conversation, synthesize the user’s responses into a concise “leader’s story” output. Be accurate in your summarization, using the user’s language and style.
OUTPUT: Use short paragraphs that reflect their style and language.
Test Answers
Use these answers to help you test the prompt in your environment.
In this example, the leader is part of an advisory practice who are adopting AI to better serve their clients
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It is a race to take the first mover advantage, with the use of AI in our practice, before our competitors shape our industry in a way that is unhelpful to us. AI will fundamentally change the way we serve our clients, their expectations, and what they are prepared to pay for. We can't affort to wait and see. The barriers to entry are being lowered which will encourage new practices and we need to establish ourselves as a credible quickly.
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AI is here, we can't avoid it or ignore it.
It is more than our intern, it is going to become our strategic partner. It will make us the best of ourselves, and challenge us to be better for our clients. From how we assess risks and the opportunities for our clients, to how we shift our clients perspectives,
AI will underpin and unlock opportunities that we have never been able to access before. It will define how we work and what we do. Things are going to move fast and we need to be adaptable.
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Expect to see more curiosity, more challenge. Less wading through papers, reports and data to get to insights, more interactivity, less formality.
We will be iterative and co-create quickly with our clients and our colleagues. We will be able to run scenarios and simulations to give our clients the courage to take action and set a different course.
Success will be our adaptability, the opportunities we take that we would not otherwise have been able to do. Curiosity will be critical, using AI to challenge, to identify emergent risks and mitigate or overcome them.
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Our core purpose remains. Our focus on unlocking value for our clients, our commitment to the highest quality advice that enables them to transform their businesses.
We are stronger together and will continue to collaborate, using the deep trust in our shared experience to innovate and find solutions.
How we work, and what we do may change, but the why we are here remains.
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The race is on. Our competitiors have access to the same technology enablers we have. It isn't what you have, it is how you use it.
Our clients expect more of us, they are fully aware of the power and opportunity that AI gives us. If we wait we will be left behind and our ability to shape our industry will be lost.
Those that move first, boldly will have an advantage. We need that advantage.
