The most important question. Ever.

Sometimes the solution is simple. And simple is sometimes hard.

Recently I was asked to give a keynote speech. My first. I have done more than a few presentations and talks at conferences but never a ‘keynote’. And never one via Zoom, which may be easier or harder. I have no comparison yet.

The ask came from a longtime acquaintance who had been following my Substack posts. He reached out to discuss my willingness to give one. He wanted me to talk about collaboration and mindset. Specifically, grit, courage and determination.

As we settled into the conversation, he reminded me that he remembered the story of the tech company I had run which had blown up in a somewhat spectacular fashion. His fund had been an investor. He also knew of my dark time after that as well as my recovery and rise less than a year later.

He knew about the hard things I had chosen to do. The ultra endurance races which helped me get past the crash. He also knew about the hit and run that followed the recovery, and the accompanying broken back, broken neck and laundry list of other broken bones and damage that resulted getting hit from behind and left for dead while on a training ride . He knew about the very rapid and somewhat surprising recovery from that disaster. Hence, his call.

“Steve, I think you are perfectly suited to talk about facing and overcoming difficult challenges and the mindset that’s required for this”, he told me. That’s a message this company needs to hear. We seem to focus on why we can’t get things done rather than being creative and believing we can, it’s just a matter of how.”

His tone indicated his genuine belief and desire to help this team improve. He was not punitive. He was looking for a new blueprint and set of tools to provide his team.

“Why? I asked him. “Why do these people need to hear a motivational message? Why is reminding them how important grit and determination is? They are not going to care about any of that shit Anthony. They know that grit and determination are important. They just don’t believe it matters right now.” I threw in, “I’m guessing.” As I really didn’t know. But had a pretty good sense I was right.

The phone went dead for dozen heartbeats. I counted.

I could not tell if he was thinking about the question or was pissed off that I was pushing back on his idea. After all, he was a board member and a key investor. It was ‘his’ business, not mine.

The silence continued and I broke the oldest sales law. Don’t speak again if you spoke last. Don’t be afraid of the silence. Still, I had one thing left to say.

“Anthony, what do you want to accomplish here? What is the goal? Not of the talk but a year from now? What do you want to change? What the hell is wrong?”

More silence.

Then, finally he spoke. His words were tinged with emotion, but I couldn’t tell which they were soaked in.

“Truth.” Another pause. “I’d want the truth, not the mostly truth.”

There he had said it. Something was off but he couldn’t isolate it. The company was making money, the top line of income statement was fine. The bottom line was a little more concerning, but the middle was what really bothered him.

“There is a lot of noise, inefficiency and in-decision in this company Steve. Too much. We don’t play as a team anymore.”

I smiled from where I sat at these words. The softball just floated over the plate.

“Anthony, the issue isn’t grit, determination or even teamwork per se. It’s Flow. Your group can’t get into Organizational Flow because they are saddled with loads of doubt and burden as individuals.

The result is the over-reliance on the concept of ‘can’t.”

He interrupted me. “Yes! We hear that damn word all the damn time! It drives some on the leadership team-and all of the board nuts. We can’t do this for this reason, we can’t do that for that reason. Can’t, can’t, can’t.”

Then he backed up.

“Wait. What do you mean the ‘concept’ of can’t?”

I shot back, “Can’t means won’t Anthony. Can’t as a concept is a belief and belief in eventually becomes a habit and habit becomes tradition. Then it’s ‘we’ve always done it this way’.

And again, there was silence on the call.

“So, what do we do about it?” He asked me. “What is your talk going to be about?”

“Simple.” I replied.

“We will ask them the most important question they have ever been asked. We will focus on one thing.

He scoffed. “One thing? They only need to change one thing? C’mon Steve. It’s not that simple.”

It was my turn to push back.

Taking a breath, I said, “Anthony, let’s go back in time. Should I have come back from where I was? You saw what happened.

Should I have ever been able to go from the mental, physical and emotional wreck I was to competing in one of the hardest ultra-endurance bike races in the U.S. in just nine months and one day?

What about a year and a half later, nearly dying after getting destroyed in the hit and run? What about when I found myself in that Level One Trauma Center ICU with a broken back and neck?

I’m in my 50’s man, what should that come back have looked like, really?

Walking with a cane and chair exercises after a year plus some? What was the probability of coming back to race a 100-mile gravel bike race in 240 days from the ICU? Zero? Ten percent?

If the solution was complex, then overcoming all of that would not have happened. The power is found in the simplicity of it. Simple is hard Antony. You know that.

So here is the question. You decide.”

What would be different if you were not here?

You.

As a professional.

A person.

As a company.

What would be different?

If. You. Were. NOT. Here.

Nothing? Something? Everything? Answer it with full truth. Not half-truth or perceived truth. Why are you here? Does your being here really matter?

How? Why?

Then came the follow up. I wanted him to hear this while he was processing the question.

“And…Is the juice worth the squeeze? Yes, or no?”

What is getting in the way? Doubt? Burden?

How much doubt and burden is the team carrying? Individually, that is.

Do they have backpacks weighed down with rocks of the stuff? Doubt and burden are loaded with negative energy. Empty calories. Wasteful stuff that weighs people down.

I know. I carried around a backpack full to the brim of it for quite a while. Shedding it is what made the difference.

I continued, “Performance is largely about belief. Performance is found in unlocking the truth.”

Doubt and burden are an absolute barrier to belief, trust, growth and success. If doubt and burden are in place, the story line will never change.

It’s an anchor you have to drag around and that is all consuming and exhausting.

“Anthony, you want this firm to take off? You must set up a structure where truths are clear and unassailable. Those that don’t want to work and act in truths, fine. Outrun those laggards. Leave them along with the doubt and burden they carry to on the side of the road. Someone else will pick them up. Just hope it is a competitor.”

Hearing this, he laughed, which was a rarity. He wasn’t a laughing kind of guy. Still chuckling, he said almost muttering, “people don’t like truths, Steve.”

I replied, “Anthony, you think great coaches who are behind at halftime go into the locker room and spew platitudes? Or do they speak truths? If they need to change the game plan based on these truths, what do great coaches and great teams do? They change the plan based on the truths.

Bruce Lee once said, the truth can withstand questioning. What’s false hides under the protection of tradition. It is protected by habit.

Tradition or habit is simply how we have done things and organizational flow, and growth is not found here.”

Now it was time to be silent. I had spoken my truth.

He sighed and said to himself, “what would happen if we were not here?” Another long pause followed.

“Nothing. Nothing would happen. Someone else would fill in our solution gap.”

I jumped in.

“Then identifying what lies in that gap and filling it so that having your company here matters. A lot. It matters. Not being here would cause a vacuum. Knowing that and then pursuing it is what will blow up the doubt and burden for most. It’s your truth. For those who don’t want that, let them fall off the back. It’s their job to keep up if they want to. If not, they can wait for a slower group to come along.”

Anthony knew I was now talking ‘race speak’ but he got it. The message was clear.

Then I added this last piece.

“There is one other thing. Once you ask the question, ‘what would happen if you are not here? Or, rather, what will happen because you are here? There is one more thing you must ask yourself when you get to this truth.”

“What is it?” He asked.

“Is the juice worth the squeeze?” I asked.

“Ok, Steve. Do you talk. Do it exactly that way. And, on the back side, help us find flow. Help us uncover the blueprint for this and put it into play.”

And that is exactly what happened. Speaking and acting in truth, authentically working from two simple questions, ‘what should happen because we are here?’ and ‘is the juice worth the squeeze?’ allows for truths to be uncovered. For doubts and burdens to be left behind and to fall into flow.

Which is a magical, rewarding and high-performance place.

And yes, it was well received. They recognized this truth, while the same time they were not attacked or pandered to.

Sometimes, the truth is all you need.