“People don’t buy what you do, but why you do it” (2013).  Simon Sinek embeds this idea into his entire TED Talk Start with the why.  

It is the Why? question that will lead to change not the What? question.  Simon continues to develop this idea when explains why people are driven to buy the more expensive iPhone, iMac, or Macbook.  Apple delivers what they believe in their products, and then explains the features and innovations.  Watch any of the keynotes for Apple Worldwide Developers Conference and you see this.  

“Our North Star has always been about improving people’s lives by creating great products that change the world” (TSP, B., 2016)

Tim Cook continues to bring why Apple does what they, do before he brings up what they are doing.   This is starting to change my thinking on leading change in innovation.

It about the students.  How will a change affect the student’s first and foremost.  At my former school, the guiding statement that led any discussion or change is “Do what is best for the students.”  This is why I am pushing for a change in the way school is done, and integration of technology (specifically iPads) into the classroom.  It is not the improvement of student learning that is driving this change, but the chance for students to finally feel successful.  The chance for them to feel worthy of learning.  The chance to have a chance.

I could target the rationale (the mind) of this change.  Looking at the facts and the figures of the improvements seen in schools with iPads.  This is traditionally the target for change agents.  Focusing on something that is tangible, like student scores, success rates or school improvements.  These numbers makes sense on paper.  The make sense to the stakeholders of the school.  The school board wants to see these numbers on the report given during a meeting.  The state wants to see improvement and “met standard” rating for each school.  These are the figures that can be put into a chart and placed on a pamphlet.  Joseph Grenny, in the book Influencer, describes the idea of that people assume it is that people do not understand what they are to do to make a change.  The authors then dispel this, and focus on changing the behavior and not the understanding.  (Grenny, J., 2013)

As stated above it is the Why not the What that will motivate a person.  One must believe in the change to follow the change.  A change must start with the Why or it will not have a direction.

“Everyone can create something that can change the world”

This is the Why of Apple’s new initiative of “Everyone Can Code.”  They present messages like this and create videos to support there Why.  Then once the Why is established they then focus on the How and What.  

If people can understand the Why then they see a need for change.  An urgency for change (Kotter, J. 2013).  If people can see the emotional connection to a change, they will feel more driven to make that change. They see a need for the change to occur, and the change to occur now.  It is not a changing of just data points on a graph, but a change in the direction of an idea.

References

Grenny, J. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

Kotter, J. (2013, August 15). Leading Change: Establish a Sense of Urgency. Retrieved October 03, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yfrj2Y9IlI

Sinek, S. (2013, September 29). Start With Why - Simon Sinek TED talk. Retrieved October 03, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sioZd3AxmnE

TSP, B. (2016, June 13). Apple CEO Tim Cook Keynote at WWDC 2016 (Full Transcript). Retrieved October 03, 2016, from http://www.singjupost.com/apple-ceo-tim-cook-keynote-at-wwdc-2016-full-transcript/