Table of Contents
A More Beautiful Question Summary
Questioning is a primary component of success as described in the book “A More Beautiful Question” by Warren Berger. We must be willing to move ourselves away from a perspective of acceptance of what is. Instead we can substitute a perspective of what could be. Each individual can develop core questions that either lead them for a period of time or for their entire lives. These kinds of questions are behind the success of nearly every innovative organization. The questions that are worth pursuing are the ones that keep coming back to our minds over time.
A More Beautiful Question Notes
Why Questioning?
- In our education and throughout our careers the skill of asking questions is never taught. Yet the ability to ask the right questions are a common factor in success.
The Power of Inquiry
- A tale of an innovative questioner is the inability to settle with the reality of a situation especially when they feel that there is something wrong with that reality.
- Outsiders are better questioners because expertise intends to prevent individuals from asking innovative questions.
Experts stop thinking because they know
What can a question do?
- The status level is irrelevant to asking a good question. It would help if you didn’t assume that someone else knows more than you. If you have a question, it can expand the thinking of others
What business are we in now — and is there still a job for me?
- Adaptability in the job market and the ability to pick up new skills have become a boon to anyone capable of doing so. However, to do this effectively, one must ask the right questions about what skills will be most fruitful to pursue.
Are questions becoming more valuable than answers?
- As information and knowledge become more widely distributed or available the real value comes from the knowledge needed to form valuable queries
- Due to the vast amounts of information available, we are becoming more ignorant due to our limited knowledge compared to the available information.
- As more information becomes available, we quickly become overwhelmed and find ourselves drawn into fallacies such as confirmation bias because it is hard to sift through new information than to find information that reinforces your current stance.
- Computers are great at answering questions but not at asking them. To become the technology, we must learn the most efficient ways to ask technical questions. By learning to ask the right questions, what-inevitably become better at our jobs.
Is Knowlege?
- As technology advances, there is less information That we have to store locally in our brains. We can focus our limited memory on the essential things to remember. This frees us up to master queries.
Why does everything begin with Why?
Questioning without action is philosophy, and Questioning with step is innovation.
How do you move from asking to action?
- By moving into a what if stage of thought we open our minds to the possibilities that exist.
- The worst thing you can do with a question is try to answer it too fast.
- We have to sit with a question in the what if stage and allow connections to be made. Often times the first solution we come up with is not the best.
- Once we move on to the how-to stage, we are now at the point in the process of putting our whys and what-ifs into action and creating the method with which to solve the problem or answer the question.
Why We Stop Questioning
Why do kids ask so many questions
- Once something has been categorized or filed away in our brains within our limited understanding, that thing is now known. Because it is known it limits our observation further, and we notice less
- In most examples of kids asking questions, if they feel the explanation satisfies their query, they will move on. However, if unsatisfied, they would ask the question again. So a cycle of whys is, in essence, the child trying to get to the bottom of something or not feeling like you understood their question
Why does questioning fall off a cliff
- Standardized testing and curriculum standards have forced schools and teachers to take their focus off unstructured inquiry and focus on providing as many answers as possible in a relevant topic area.
- Most schools are still operating as if in the stages of the industrial revolution and churning out workers rather than thinkers.
Who is entitled to ask questions in class?
- Kids from lower-class families tend to have less support at home to learn outside the classroom. Thus making it easier for them to fall behind. When the teacher is incentivized to get through many topics, they are not incentivized to stop for questions and essentially discourage those students from asking.
- Some teacher fear inquiry because they fear they will be asked something they don’t know the answer to
The Why, What if, and How of Innovative Questioning
Why do we have to wait for the picture
- To ask powerful questions we must
- Step back
- Notice what others miss
- Challenge assumptions (including your own)
- Gain a feeling understanding of the situation or problem at hand, through contextual inquiry
- Question the questions we’re asking
- Take ownership of a particular question
Why does stepping back help us move forward?
- We live in a time when relentless productivity is thought to be the only way. Those who can actually take the time to pause and think about the why questions tend to notice the issues in a plan before they happen. I relate to this because I constantly feel like I am the only on in managers meetings with a focus on realistic productivity rather than relentless productivity.
- You have to be willing to accept the feeling of not knowing things to ask naive questions that inspire innovative answers.
Why did George Carlin see things the rest of your missed?
- Approach life with a sense of vuja de or beginners mind
Why should you be stuck withou a bed if I’ve got a extra air mattress?
- We don’t think to challenge the status quo very often. When we do, amazing things can happen
Why must we question the question?
- Five Whys is a method of repeated questioning to get to the source of an issue
- Anyone can ask a question but to decide to pursue an answer or solution takes a certain amount of imagination, determination and or despriation
How do you build a tower that doesn’t collapse
- The downfall to trying to plan our everything in advance is that you get far fewer opportunities to trial and error
- If you have and idea you don’t have to work on it in solitude. There are people who are happy to contribute. Open source proves this concept
Chapter 4 Questioning in Business
Why do smart business people screw up?
- Newcomers can enter into a low end of a market because they don’t already have an established product and quality expectation that established businesses do
- The thin that brought a business to a level of success likely won’t be what pushes them to the next level
How can we make a better experiment?
- Established businesses need to create a place for employees to experiment and test out new ideas
If we brainstorm in questions will lightening strike?
- When brainstorming sometimes it can be more effective to think of the questions rather than the solution
- Storm 50 questions and narrow down to the top 3. From thee the team can leave the meeting with a direction to research
Will anyone follow a leader who embraces uncertainty?
- An outsider can never successfully offer solution. They can simply provide another angle at which to view you issues.
- Mission statements when asked as a question provide direction when the organization makes any decision
How might we create a culture of inquiry?
- For interviews ask candidates to prepare open ended an ambitious questions that challenge industry culture or create potential what if scenarios.
Chapter 5 Questioning for life
Why should we live the questions?
- Giving in to uncertainty can open a lot of opportunity
Why are you climbing the mountain?
- What am I expecting at the top of this mountain?
- Is the climb helping me to be who I want to be?
Why are you evading inquiry?
- Inquiry is hard because it embraces the concept of being uncertain
- Inquiry has to be a part of habit and routine otherwise it just gets lost in our busy schedules
Before we lean in what if we steeped back?
- Taking the time to sit with a questions allows us time to think deeply about the question before we go to take action
What if we start with what we already have?
- We need to accept that some pursuits will never lead to happiness
- Find what you are good at or where you shine and try to incorporate more of that into you life
What if you made a small change?
- People obsess over making sure everything is just right before making a change. Sometimes this leads to paralysis of the analysis. In some cases it might be better to try.
What if you could not fail?
- In many cases failure is not complete or total. It is something we can come back from
How might we pry off the lid and stir the paint?
- Sometimes questions have to be asked a certain way to encourage thoughtful action instead of defensiveness
How will you find your beautiful question?
- Questions worth pursuing tend to stick with you. If is best to take time with these questions. Allow yourself to focus solely on these and let your others go for a bit.
Source
Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: the power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas . Bloomsbury USA.