Ola Aiyegbayo

Good questions are the most underrated leadership tool. Questions cause thinking, and good questions cause the right thinking.

In an expert-run industrialized economy, there’s a lot of pressure to be the one who’s sure, the person with all the answers. Far more valuable is someone who has all the questions. The ability to figure out what hasn’t been figured out and see what hasn’t been seen is a significant advantage. Rarest of all is the person with the humility (and

The fourth reason we don’t ask questions, says Marquardt, is that we lack the skills required to ask them.

When everyone is talking about a new trend, what are they not talking about? These social silences show us what matters. We can never truly know what happens in a place or a context unless we also know what doesn’t happen.

Rather than trying to go as broad as possible in every conversation, you are actually better off zooming in on a few areas which are critical to your business. If you have a huge range of questions, do more interviews and split the questions.

Careful with “why” questions – they might make people feel defensive. Try “how” and “what” questions – they convey curiosity better. Just beware of “how did it feel?” – it’s sometimes the most useless question you can ask.

Change is inevitable; your job as an observer is to find out where and how it will occur. The answers to that question can often be surprising.

People ask questions when they want to hear more from you, and stop asking questions when they want less.