Stay curious. Improve the quality of questions before getting to work on answers. Use more questions to see beyond the obvious answers. Improve group dynamics by ensuring there is enough attention given to asking the right questions. Be interested.

Third, ask open-ended questions to get your responder to go deeper. Closed-ended questions, or questions with yes-or-no answers, neither encourage conversation nor spark new ideas in your respondent. Think like a journalist, which in a sense you are, and ask the questions a reporter would ask: What, who, why, when, where, and how questions push the

Here are some examples of powerful questions to ask someone, that you can modify per your needs:

• What do you really want?

• What about this is important to you?

• What does that look like?

• How do you feel about this?

• What’s next?

• What else is possible?

• What’s right about this?

• What are your concerns?

• What is standing in your way?

• Tell me more

Asking questions will only get you so far. Even more important is listening to the answers. And even more important than that? Listening to understand, not just listening to respond or reply.

If you want to make someone think, ask them a question. A good question can change someone’s perspective, which can change everything. “A change in perspective,” said Alan Kay, “is worth 80 IQ points.”