good questions
To make our communications more effective, we need to shift our thinking from “What information do I need to convey?” to “What questions do I want my audience to ask?”
Dan Heath • Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Tell me, what questions do you carry, that wouldn’t exist if you knew exactly what you were doing? (Hint: That’s where your next interesting thing lives)
Beth Kempton • Confessions of a Self-Help Author
There will be a small group of “What” and “How” questions that you will find yourself using in nearly every situation. Here are a few of them: What are we trying to accomplish? How is that worthwhile? What’s the core issue here? How does that affect things? What’s the biggest challenge you face? How does this fit into what the objective is?
Chris Voss • Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
From there, I have a few go-to questions that I have found create reliably engaging discourse:
• What's your connection to [insert current place or event]?
• What are you most excited about currently?
• What's lighting you up outside of work?
• What’s your favorite book you’ve read recently?
Note: Always avoid "What do you do?" as a question. It's
... See moreInstead of asking: "Do you have any questions?", ask "What questions do you have?"
The first almost always results in silence, while the second helps people feel comfortable asking questions.
Ask yourself, “What are the questions I’ve always been interested in?” This could include grand, sweeping questions like “How can we make society fairer and more equitable?” as well as practical ones like “How can I make it a habit to exercise every day?” It might include questions about relationships, such as “How can I have closer relationships w
... See moreTiago Forte • Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential
19 Things You Can Say to People in 10 Seconds That Sometimes Produce Insanely Outsized Effects
1. Yeah, someone *should* do that. Why not you?
2. Is there something you could do about that problem in the next five minutes?
3. That's a great thought - have you written it up somewhere? I'd be excited to share it if so.
4. Should you write a blog or Linke
... See moreEffective leaders ask questions rather than providing answers. The questions are key. Great leaders don’t tell people, they don’t direct people, and they don’t order people around. They facilitate great thinking through self-reflection. We talked about one ego-bypass question in an earlier chapter: “What would ‘great’ look like?” Here are a few oth
... See moreCy Wakeman • No Ego: How Leaders Can Cut the Cost of Workplace Drama, End Entitlement, and Drive Big Results (How Leaders Can Cut the Cost of Drama in the Workplace, End Entitlement, and Drive Big Results)
To initiate this step of creation, it is always good to move into a state of wonder, contemplation, possibility, reflection, or speculation by asking yourself some important questions. Open-ended inquiries are the most provocative approach to producing a fluent stream of consciousness: • What would it be like to … ? • What is a better way to be … ?
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