“Black Hole Words” and the power of asking stupid questions

It is actually an extraordinarily powerful skill to ask the “stupid” questions that

everyone else is afraid to ask. Stupid questions have the ability to create clarity in places where people didn’t even know there was confusion. 

I now feel confident that when executive hires fail, the most common reason is that the CEO didn’t take the time to specifically and clearly define what they were looking for at the start. They just assumed that one CMO is the same as another CMO. 

“What do you mean by XX?” This phrase is exceptional, simple, and under-used in my opinion.