The Book of Beautiful Questions: The Powerful Questions That Will Help You Decide, Create, Connect, and Lead

Would I rather be right or would I rather understand?

The path to better decision-making begins by questioning one’s own beliefs, biases, and assumptions. It’s something people rarely do—and it’s certainly not easy to do. (There are some biases that are likely to remain invisible to us no matter how hard we search for them.) It may be more difficult than ever in these “echo chamber” times.

To ask a question is an admission that 1) you don’t know, and 2) you do care—doubly uncool.

ASK THESE FOUR QUESTIONS TO CHECK YOUR BIASES AND BELIEFS What am I inclined to believe on this particular issue? Start by trying to articulate your beliefs/biases. Why do I believe what I believe? The “jugular question,” per Nobel Prize–winning physicist Arno Penzias, forces you to consider the basis of those beliefs. What would I like to be true?

Why do I believe what I believe? (And what if I’m wrong?)

young children discover early on that the information they seek can be easily extracted from other human beings,5 merely by using that certain combination of words and vocal inflection that forms a question.

The late founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, was one of the busiest people on the planet, yet he made a conscious effort to regularly ask fundamental “Why?” questions while making the rounds of his company’s various departments. At each stop, whether in the marketing area or accounting, “I always asked why we’re doing things the way we’re doing them,” Jo

Carl Sagan told the interviewer Charlie Rose: “If we are not able to ask skeptical questions15 … to interrogate those who tell us something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority … then we are up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes ambling along.”

QUESTIONS TO TEST YOUR “INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY” Do I tend to think more like a soldier or a scout? A soldier’s job is to defend, while a scout’s purpose is to explore and discover. Would I rather be right, or would I rather understand? If you place too much importance on being right, it can put you in “defense” mode and close off learning and unders