Photo Courtesy: Alistercyne at Flickr

Last week, I had an opportunity to introduce one of my mentors Yakov Soloveychik to some of the people that I mentor. It was an honor and a privilege. I was explaining to the group that every time I meet Yakov I come back with something that I had not thought about. Every meeting was insightful and even if I had no questions before the meeting, I would come back with answers for the questions I should have had.

This was not a coaching session by any means but Yakov has insights to share ALL the time.

He mentioned to the group that when he meets with his CEO clients, he focuses on what comes before the “because,” because “because” is the cause of many problems.

The CEOs might say something like:

I can’t hire a new salesperson because…

I can’t fire the existing salesperson because…

I can’t increase the revenues because…

What comes after the word “because” is a story that the CEO has been telling himself (or herself) and the story is so convincing that he or she does not have to think about alternatives.

When you focus on what comes before “because” and ignore what comes after “because” for a short while, we have room to play with. There is an open space to dance. There is a new possibility. We are not captivated by the earlier story. We have an opening to tell a new story.