Sir John Hegarty in his new book :”There Are No Rules”, (Thames & Hudson) writes:
“Why is the most important word you’ll ever use. Creativity is all about exploration and going where no one has gone before. Just like an explorer you’re hoping to head into unchartered territories. Asking “why?” is the key to starting the journey.
Now some people are going to find you asking “why?” all the time incredibly aggravating. Same as we all feel when a child asks “why?” again and again. Keep asking the question.
The greatest creative people are great precisely because they hold onto a child-like simplicity and urge to question everything. This is sometimes referred to as creative ignorance: not just the rejection of accepted practices…….”
As he states, asking why in whatever we do is critical. This can also be described as “confirming the objective”. How often are we involved in activities, meetings, projects for which the original intent has been lost. A person attending the meeting for the first time has ‘creative ignorance’ and might ask: “Please remind me why we are doing this?”. This will most often get the team to reconfirm the original objective and confirm they are on track to achieve it. Or it may lead to a reflection that they have actually drifted off track and need to get back to their original purpose.