Ola Aiyegbayo
@olaojo15
Ola Aiyegbayo
Dig deeper by asking quick follow-up questions. Golden information comes the deeper into a conversation you go.
Pat Flynn • Will It Fly?: How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don't Waste Your Time and Money
The very premise and structure of this book is to teach you to ask more probing questions. It starts with the most important, and sometimes hardest, question: “What's the problem?”
Jordan Goldmeier • Becoming a Data Head
What is the problem we are trying to solve? Why is this a problem? Is this the most important problem to solve? How do you know this? What would the answer to this problem enable you to do in terms of outcomes (which is changing human behaviour)?
"I was waiting for something extraordinary to happen, but as the years wasted on, nothing ever did unless I caused it.”
—Charles Bukowski
The questions you ask are signifiers that you are listening. Try to construct each question as a follow-up to a previous answer.
Steve Portigal • Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights
Typical open-ended questions are variations on “Tell me more” and “Help me understand better ….”
Roger Fisher • Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
“Follow-ups are a signal that you’re listening, that you want to know more,”
Charles Duhigg • Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
The purpose of listening
is not to reply,
but to hear what is not being said
Kevin Kelly • Excellent Advice for Living
Good questions are the most underrated leadership tool. Questions cause thinking, and good questions cause the right thinking.
Matt Lerner • Growth Levers and How to Find Them
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.
Cristian Lupșa • Draft Four: Writing Advice From the Master
Focus on asking how or what questions instead of why questions which can make people defensive.