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One of my great joys is that my son Dev wants to build worlds and approaches almost everything through the lens of “Will this help me build a world?” I can see the question opening up places in his mind. My job now is to protect that question-led curiosity at all costs.

Packy McCormick • Long Questions/Short Answers Long Questions/Short Answers

Embrace naivety

Caro’s question is: How does political power really work in America?

Once he asks it, it takes the wheel. Caro is willing to go broke to answer it.

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Questions attract, drive, and distinguish.

We talked a little bit about attracting . This is what happens to me when I’m writing a piece. Suddenly, I discover useful tidbits without even looking for them.

Packy McCormick • Long Questions/Short Answers Long Questions/Short Answers

Questions are places in your mind where answers fit . If you haven’t asked the question, the answer has nowhere to go. It hits your mind and bounces right off. You have to ask the question — you have to want to know — in order to open up the space for the answer to fit.1

Packy McCormick • Long Questions/Short Answers Long Questions/Short Answers

“How do you see someone, including yourself, clearly?”

Packy McCormick • Long Questions/Short Answers Long Questions/Short Answers

Graham Duncan, Investor

Graham has made an art of understanding people – Patrick introduced him by saying that his “reputation was as the most discerning people picker on Wall Street” – and in his essay, he writes that one of the best ways to do that is to see what kinds of questions they ask:

It also helps to have the candidate you’re trying to see clearly ask you questions. Questions have very high signal value compared to most anything else you can get from a candidate… I write down each question and sometimes respond with “I’ll answer, but first I’m curious, why did you ask that?” I’m looking for the felt sense of a “hungry mind” based on the way their questions flow. That’s very hard to fake.

This is why it is so important to figure out the big question you’re trying to answer. Putting yourself in situations that feed your mind what it’s hungry for lets you outwork everyone else without even realizing you’re working. You’re just trying to answer your question!