Perform: Process Stories

Last night, I rewatched one of my favorite episodes of The West Wing, "Process Stories". The character of Leo McGarry (WH Chief of Staff), is discussing a bloody coup d'etat which ended with the White House's preferred candidate in power. In response, he says "The process matters more than the outcome and that's what we wanted."

I am always thinking about the process. Sure, it is easy to try to jump to the end. We like to predict what people will do and what they will say. To imagine that we can see the entire board from our corner of it. But that makes a messy process, one that will give you no pleasure and will often work against your integrity.

So perhaps we can adopt a process for taking the long view. Asking what others need, listening to the words spoken, and absorbing the data. Only then, speaking from our own truth rather than what we expect others want to hear. It is frightening to act in this way. You could be wrong. You could lose. But the process does matter in the end.