The "Yap" Answer

I view one of the most important roles of the CEO as that of the chief questioner. There are deep assumptions that people rely upon when they make decisions that are often irrelevant, outdated, or illogical. Until you start asking questions, no one will look for new answers. Can we do it better? What is the customer point of view? Can we strip this down further and simplify it? I advocate for the customer. Whenever anything is presented as obvious, is question, push, and encourage people to really think of how we do things based on what our customers need and want.

I have a term that I use whenever I hear someone offer a response to a question or propose a solution that hasn't been well thought through, or researched or considered.  Everyone knows it when they see it - a flip answer without the hard work of digging in, getting the data, working through the options, running the scenarios.  A "yap" answer.  No one likes to say to their boss or peers that they don't know or haven't done the work to get to a well considered answer so they fall back on "yap."

At the end of the day, human judgement, creativity and ingenuity will make the difference in making a decision, but the hard work to clarify your thinking, to understand the potential unintended consequences, to lay out where things may go wrong; is critical to the process.

A good leader practices accountability and visibility...starting with themselves.  And accountability starts with rigorous thinking.   I work to hold myself to the highest possible standards and expect others to do the same. When mistakes are made, I am the first to own them... trying to take the fear of out accepting responsibility for others.  Mistakes aren't fatal but "yap" answers are. 

Integrity, first and foremost, is essential in an organization. There must be integrity in our actions, our words, our treatment of individuals, and our treatment of partners, clients and the community.  And in our commitment to rigorous thinking.  You have to work hard every day to avoid the trap of "yap."