Book Review #25
A few days ago, I finished reading "A More Beautiful Question" by Warren Berger. Berger defines "a beautiful question" as an ambitious yet actionable question that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something—and that might serve as a catalyst to bring about change.
My Key takeaways from the book are as follows :-
1) In the Generative AI era, questioning is more important today than it was yesterday—and will be even more important tomorrow—in helping us figure out what matters, where opportunity lies, and how to get there. We’re all hungry for better answers. But first, we need to learn how to ask the right questions.
2) “Known answers are everywhere, and easily accessible.” and since we’re drowning in all of this data, “the value of explicit information is dropping”. The real value is in “what you can do with that knowledge, in pursuit of a query.”
3) As a child we all have "The Question Instinct" and ask many many questions but as we grow up, we get silenced because our school system looks for answers, because questions are seen as "inefficient" and because questions challenge authority organizations fail to get enough of them
4) The 'Art of Questioning' can be learned. To ask better and powerful questions you must:
- Step back
- Notice what others miss
- Challenge assumptions (including our own)
- Gain a deeper understanding through contextual inquiry
- Question the questions we’re asking
- Take ownership of a particular question
5) Asking better questions has the power to change organizations and also our lives. Peter Drucker says about his consulting projects that “his job wasn’t to serve up answers,”. His greatest strength was “to be ignorant and ask a few questions.” Often those deceptively simple questions like 'Who is your customer?', 'What business are you in?' leads to the eventual answers coming from his clients themselves.
Berger has also created a useful question index at the end. Overall great book that will help you reflect on your ability to ask better questions.
#questionsandanswers #leadership #inquiry #warrenberger
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