The What vs The How Diagnosis
Before you quit the career, check whether it's the skill or the value that broke.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 83%
Stahl splits every role into two dynamics. The what is your core skill set: the tasks you perform all day. A coder is a coder at Disney or Victoria's Secret — the industry is only the backdrop, while the skill set is the foreground that holds the career. The how is your core values: whether the conditions let you operate in integrity. She argues most people go the wrong direction in their careers because they misread a how problem as a what problem. The diagnosis is a single question — which of the two is actually failing — and it usually saves the career rather than ending it.
Origin
Developed in Stahl's coaching practice as the diagnostic she reaches for when clients present as 'I hate my job'. Rooted in her own Pentagon experience, where the skill set was wrong (analysis, not words) and the values were violated (connection) — two separate failures she could only distinguish in hindsight.
Core principles
- 01There are two core dynamics in any role: the what and the how.
- 02The what is your core skill set — the tasks you do all day.
- 03The how is your core values — the conditions under which you do them.
- 04The industry is the backdrop; the skill set is the foreground holding your career.
- 05Misdiagnosing a value problem as a skill problem makes people burn a career they should have kept.
How to run it
- 1
Isolate the what
List what you actually do all day. Map those tasks to a core skill set. Ignore the industry — it's backdrop, not foreground.
Pro tip Ask whether you'd do these same tasks in a completely different industry. If yes, the skill set is fine.
- 2
Isolate the how
Ask which core values the role touches, and whether any are being violated by the conditions, the product, or the culture.
- 3
Name the failing layer
Decide explicitly: is this a skill set issue or a core value issue? Do not proceed until you've named one.
Watch out Blowing up a career over a value violation that a different employer would fix is the expensive error.
- 4
Act on the right layer
Value failure means change the context and keep the lane. Skill failure means change the lane.
In the wild
An extroverted words person in sales feels out of integrity because integrity is a core value and they don't believe in the product. The what — extroverted words work in sales — is a clean fit. The how is broken.
→ Stahl's verdict: you still make sense in sales as the extroverted words person you are. The real problem is the value violation, not the career.
Common mistakes
Blaming the industry
The industry only matters as the backdrop you're standing in. Chasing a new industry when the skill set was already wrong just relocates the problem.
Reading a value violation as career failure
Stahl says this is where a lot of people go the wrong direction in their career — they quit the lane when the lane was correct and only the conditions were wrong.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone considering quitting, and coaches diagnosing a dissatisfied client.
Not ideal for
Situations where the problem is purely logistical — visa, pay, location — rather than fit.
From the transcript
“There's two core dynamics. There's the what and there's the how. So, the what is about your core skill set. What are you doing all…”
“You could be a coder, like a techie at Disney, the same way you could do it for Victoria's Secret. Like the industry is irrelevant.”
“That's a core value issue, it's not a skill set issue. That person to me, I'm going to say, 'You know what? You still make…”
From the episode
Ashley Stahl: The Road to Self-Discovery, Uncover Your Core Skills and Values for Career Success
Ashley Stahl