Ask 'why' five times; the wisdom of Toyota and Jimmy Breslin

I was hiking through a hillside jungle of Southeast Asia last year when I decided to employ an investigative technique outlined by the world's largest auto maker.  You can use it too:

Take your stories to the next level by asking “why” five times.  If you get stuck, you can substitute one or all five with “so what?"

I got this idea from a book about the Toyota Motor Corporation. Their historically impressive reliability is rooted in their management principles, a science that doesn’t earn enough recognition. If something were to go wrong they would go beyond the surface explanation and probe for a possible underlying reason by asking “why” five times.

For example: One out of three windshields that were installed by Sally on the assembly line are cracked within a day. Instead of firing her, ask “why” five times:

1.     Why: Because she bumps them when installing them. She isn’t able to control the installer well.

2.     So What: She thought she was clumsy, but now when her manger tries and he has the same problem with her machine.

3.     Why: Because last month the machine was serviced improperly. The technician, Bob, inadvertently installed the wrong size replacement screw.

4.     Why: Because he unknowingly pulled a 3/8 screw from a drawer labeled 1/4

5.     Why: Because Jared, whose job it is to manage the replacement shop facility, has been sloppy in his work.

As we can see, Jared is the employee who needs to be reprimanded and cited for sloppy work. But without asking “why” or “so what” five times, good workers such as Sally on the assembly line or maintenance worker Bob might have been wrongly criticized.

I took to heart this lesson of asking “why” five times last year when I was in the Philippines. The Southern Asia-Pacific Division officers told me that in the south in the last few years 40 Protestant pastors from other denominations had converted to the Seventh-day Adventist faith, along with many of their congregations. So I took the one-hour flight to General Santos City and met up with a guide.

But instead of doing a story about how wonderful this was and parading the Adventist faith as the “true” faith with 40 pastors now proving it, I decided I wanted to go deeper.

I took lots of pictures and constantly scribbled notes while bouncing in a pickup along rural hill roads and while hiking up and down steep trails through mountainside jungles and farms. At one little thatch-roofed church I happened to take a picture of a girl sitting next to me. She was holding a baby – her little sister, or so I thought. My guide later told me that wasn’t her little sister, but her daughter. I was surprised because the mother couldn’t have been 15. It turns out that early marriage is common in the region.

That’s when it clicked for me. I remembered writing notes about two hours prior about how Adventist leaders in the region want to get kids of the newly Adventist congregations into schools. Other denominations don’t have the educational focus and infrastructure that Seventh-day Adventists do.

I knew I had my lead, and I asked more questions to confirm it. “The parents push their daughters to get married so they can receive a dowry,” my guide said. “Now we hope they’ll push their daughters to finish school.”

So instead of a story about 40 pastors converting to the Adventist faith, I did a story about the same thing but focused it on how it’s going to change the lives of many of their parishioners for the better. Essentially, I had subconsciously asked “so what” several times.

The story is here: http://news.adventist.org/en/archive/articles/2010/12/07/in-the-philippines-faith-conversion-offers-spiritual-reassurance-practical-

If I may be so bold, this is how legendary reporter Jimmy Breslin approached stories. He wanted to cover major events focusing on how they affected the “common man.”

The day of JFK’s funeral, every reporter in Washington D.C. was along Pennsylvania Avenue covering the event the same way as everyone else. Not Breslin. He was across the Potomac River at Arlington Cemetery interviewing the man who was digging JFK’s grave. The next day, Breslin’s story stood out.

So before reporting a story, you might now choose to ask “why” or “so what” several times. Also, ask, "whom does this really affect?" It will likely give you options for reporting a more unique and interesting angle in an otherwise predicable storyline.