What Is Your Why?

Browsing the discussions and resources here in the Thwack community, I can see that you are an incredible bunch of people - passionate and knowledgeable about your own areas of expertise & eager to guide & advise others.

But, for a moment, let’s look up from what we are doing. Let’s talk about your Why.

I'm sure you all know what you do. That would be easy to tell someone, right? And you'd could probably also go into great detail about how you do it. But do you have a real vision for why you do what you do? Do you have a vision that extends beyond "because it's my job?" or "because the servers would fall over if I didn't?"

This isn't a deeply technical topic, but it can become your secret weapon. Your Why can lift you during a frustrating day. It can get you through a 1am call out (as well as all the caffeine). And it will be music to the ears of management or the business when you come to them with a problem or a recommendation. If you can frame your conversations with them to address their Why, I can guarantee you better success.

“I'm a sys admin. I monitor and maintain our servers. I do this to keep the business running. The end users can then serve their customers.” Easy so far, right?

So what does your company do for its customers, who are ultimately your customers? Is the product or service vision of your company as deeply ingrained in your mind as it is in the marketing department?

Does your company give peace of mind to people and help them in the toughest times … i.e. are you an insurance company?

So really, you give people peace of mind & help them in the toughest times by ensuring that your staff have fast access to their computer systems when they need them.

Tell me what your Why is? How do you think your Why can influence how you work & what decisions you make?

Simon Sinek explains Apple’s Why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sioZd3AxmnE

P.S. If you are in this for the thrill of working with technology, I get that too.

  • Another person in the health field! It's great to know that skilled medical professionals are backed by skilled IT admins like yourself.

  • Oh fantastic! That's a great Why!

  • Sounds like we have another problem solver in our midst! Well done with your success so far and all the best for a continuing bright future!

  • Say (god forbid) you have cancer. Your Oncologist tries the first two logically suggested treatment options for your type of cancer, but they have no effect. It continues to spread. You're rightfully scared, and fearful that the next treatment might be just as ineffective. Your doctor calls Caris (the company I work for) and sends them a biopsy from your cancer. After genetic and molecular tests are performed, within about 10 days (or less) of receiving your biopsy, we send to your doctor a list of treatment options they can select from that have had observed results for your specific type of cancer, compiled from the results of tens of thousands of clinical tests. For instance, you might have a biomarker that's particularly susceptible to a specific type of drug. Suddenly, your doctor has more optimistic options...which means you do, too.

    That's my why.

    P.S. I, like many IT guys, enjoy solving puzzles, playing with new equipment, and designing for the future. The harder the problem you face, the greater the satisfaction when you achieve your victory.

  • I have worked for Nationwide Children's Hospital for over a decade in various forms of IT. Here nothing is about the technology, its all about what the technology means. It has to run all day, every day, at over 100 locations we support.

    Anyone can imagine, but parents of sick children know that a visit to a hospital or even a doctor's clinic is hard, even when all goes well. Every delay, every bump in the road is tough under the stress the family is in. And over the last decade, everything has been built on the foundation our IT department builds. The is literally no change we make where we do not think about what this means down stream. This means that when we do scheduled maintenance, we talk with the emergency room to ensure the volume isn't too high (paper charts take longer, and don't have as many built in safety checks), or there isn't an inbound trauma patient that will need our radiology services immediately. It means that when we are asked to find a way to get even the craziest things done, there is usually the best interest of a child at the other end of the request.

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