Whhhhoooooooo Cares?

I'm fearful that one of the more marvelous moments of "Into the Woods" will be regarded as just a great joke when there is really so much more that can be learned.  The baker and his wife, instead of resuming their search for the three items they are supposed to find, start bickering over a trivial matter.   Suddenly, the witch appears and stops them cold with "Whhhhoooooooo cares?"

Funny?  Yes.  Profound?   More than we would like to think.  How many times have you been part of a discussion and you think to yourself exactly the same thing, "Who cares?"  And you would be right.

The witch goes on to make the argument that there are bigger issues that they collectively share and the minor distraction was fast becoming a major reason why they were not attaining their goal.   The same is true in the workplace, the seemingly minor distractions that people get stuck on derail us from achieving our goals.

There is the bickering over details:  "he said, she said,"  "well, I didn't get that part of the report,"   "I just feel that perhaps . . ."   Stay on track. . .because  whhhhoooooooo cares about all of this?   At the end of the day. . .nobody.

Then there are the arguments over whether it should be semi-colon. . .or whether it should be italicized. . .or if just perhaps a certain word would make more sense.   Honestly. . .whhhhoooooooo cares?  Make a decision and move on.

Or perhaps someone has neglected to do a report for the past two and a half years, and just now someone noticed.   Seriously. . .if someone just noticed after two and a half years. . .nobody cares and it wasn't needed.

The minor bickerings are just that. . .unfortunately, someone usually slaps the label of personal integrity on their argument and then everyone is stuck.  Let's be clear, it's not personal integrity. . .it may be stubbornness, it may be insecurity. . .but the minor arguments are not about personal integrity.

Yes, there are more meaningful issues that are deserving of discussion, negotiation and clarification. . .let's just be certain that they truly are meaningful. . .that the outcome will make a difference.   It's up to us to monitor the chatter and referee the calls.

Because the most lethal "Whhhhoooooooo cares?" is the one in which the team gets so caught up in things that nobody cares about. . .that truly, the team ends up caring about nothing.

Be certain of this. . .teams want to care about things that really do matter.

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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available from Amazon Kindle for e-readers, tablets and PCs.