As a guest speaker at Parsons School of Design - The NEW School in the School of Design Strategies for “Storytelling in Design,” I was asked to talk about my background and then do a Q&A. Of course, as a storyteller, I love structure, so instead, I opted to give a short presentation about the Triple Bottom Why method and then do an exercise with students to articulate their Whys.
During this Zoom, the professor, my long-time friend, and client, Sachiko Uozumi, said to me, “Many of the students don’t have their cameras on. They are not feeling well.” Whether they were struggling with the stay-home order, the end of the semester, or any other factor, I was happy to be there for them. Part of the value of articulating our Why is to stay connected and keep up motivation in times of crisis—if we can put our Why into words, we can focus on what drives us and be creative. This process is especially helpful as we watch the news and world around us, keeping our eye on the Why.
Next, the students participated in “Hack Your Whys,” a quick exercise I lead, encouraging them to write down their instincts when it comes to their personal Why, organizational Why, and audience Why. Following, I encourage sharing and am available to support people to validate or refine their findings during the remaining time on the Zoom. One student said he is considering creating a furniture product for college students and young professionals at accessible prices. When I asked him about the Why of his audience, he talked about normalcy. I asked if he could make a connection between normalcy and his product—nothing came to his mind, so he said he would think about it.
“Normally, normalcy is not a typical word that comes up,” I responded (no pun intended). “What is the Why behind normalcy?”
As we were on a Zoom with members of his target market, we opened the floor for questions. Students responded with answers like “control,” “comfort,” and “adjusting.” Immediately, he started to connect dots. With a pandemic, we are all out of control, but we can make decisions about our environments at home and adjust them! Additionally, what is more comforting than a couch? Right away, our student realized that he now had three great ways to create value for his customer base to test and try out, seeing what resonated. He even discovered new product ideas, realizing if he could add adjustable features at an accessible price, he would create more value than expected for a lower price point, setting him apart in the market.
Usually, my methods with students and clients are about refining the core messaging of Why statements, differentiating them from the How, What, and If value propositions. While I was a guest teaching today, I learned that while we may not arrive at the Why right away, all of the language inspired by these exercises is extremely important. It supports us to strengthen our storytelling, leading to more resonance with audiences, and therefore more engagement, connection, motivation, buy-in, sales, or any results we seek.
To learn more, read about our upcoming Articulate Your Why program.