Why do beavers build dams?

I was having coffee with the CEO of the company I was working for a bunch of years ago now. 

This was right around the time that I had began getting into leading brand development and strategy. At the time our company was going thorough the most significant re-brand in company history. I caught wind of it on the design side and started trying to direct things from my perspective to help effectively and authentically guide the work that would come down the pipe. I had no training in brand strategy and had never led any sort of re-brand effort, especially at this level. I ended up heading up the project along with other leaders in marketing and becoming the liaison between our company and the Seattle based consulting group.

The CEO then asked me an odd question. “Do you know why beavers build dams?” It’s one of those questions where you can tell that the technical or scientific answer isn’t the point but I engaged, “No I don’t.” He said,

“they want the sound of the water to stop.” 

Now, I have no evidence that this is true, a quick Google search didn’t turn up anything affirming that, but his follow up question made his point. “What sound are you trying to stop?”

I’ve thought a bunch about that over the years. There’s something that drives me to uncover something with my clients and the work I do. I want to cut through the fog, get people to be honest with themselves and with each other. Why? What sound am i trying to stop? I think authenticity is a necessity. If you don’t know what’s wrong, you can’t fix it. If you don’t know what’s really special and right and good and true, you can’t share it.

What’s the sound you’re trying to stop? There’s probably an answer and it’s probably what you’re really good at.