Sir Steve Lancashire is Chair of Forum Strategy’s National #TrustLeaders CEO network. He also provides mentoring to a number of CEOs across our network and through the Being The CEO programme. Applications are currently being welcomed for our twelfth cohort, beginning in July 2025.
In this month’s blog, Steve reflects, after our national #TrustLeaders symposium last week, on the power of the question “So what?”. He presents this as the most critical and transformative question we can ask ourselves (and others) both philosophically and practically because it ultimately encourages us to define the relevance, meaning, and action from an experience. Steve uses this question to frame specific reflections from our symposium, urging trust leaders to move beyond inspiration and insight to purposeful action for trusts and the system.
(So) What Is the Most Important Question?
People love asking big questions. It’s practically a human hobby. Some say the biggest question is “Why?”- as in ‘Why are we here?’ ‘Why does anything exist?’ ‘Why do bad things happen?’ At some point, every child stumbles onto this potentially most powerful question ‘Why is the sky blue?’ ‘Why do we sleep?’ ‘Why can’t I eat ice cream for breakfast?’ It’s a tiny word with a big job and it often leads to the equally mighty, world-ending answer: ‘Because.’ (But is ‘because’ really an answer? Or is it just something we use to end the conversation? The real mystery might not be the question itself, but what makes ‘because’ feel like it solves everything.)
In our professional world, we are rightly obsessed with exploring, determining, exemplifying the ‘Why?’ of our organisation because we believe it is the most important question we can answer; it gives meaning to everything else. It clarifies what we stand for, fuels commitment, and guides choices when the path isn’t obvious. We all know that without a clear ‘Why?’, even good ideas lose impact, and people end up working hard without knowing what they’re working towards. Purpose isn’t optional after all; it’s the compass that keeps us heading in the right direction.
Some people, however, argue for ‘How?’ being the most important question ‘How does the universe work?’ ‘How did life begin?’ ‘How can we fix this mess?’ etc. (my personal film favourite is Hudson in Aliens, ‘How do I get out of this chicken**** outfit?) Hopefully a line you don’t feel the need to use regularly.
Then you get those people who lean into ‘What?’ – ‘What’s the meaning of life?’ or ‘What happens after we die?’ classic heavy-hitters, big enough to build religions, science fiction plots, and long podcast episodes around.
But I’m going to argue that there’s a sleeper pick. A quiet, overlooked question that might actually be the most powerful of all…
Other useful resources from Forum Strategy linked to the themes in Steve’s blog:
Time for trust leaders to be both bold and vulnerable
System leadership across the academy trust system and beyond
