Are we asking enough questions ?
It is strange that in today’s day and age when thanks to Google all answers (well almost all) are at our finger tips we are not asking enough questions.
Are we actually forgetting the art of asking questions ?
Are we scared of the answers and hence don’t ask the questions?
Are we scared of rejection and hence don’t ask for help, for guidance? Let’s dig a little deeper.
Is asking ‘Why Not?” The key to survival?
“In all my affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.” – Bertrand Russell
Yes
Just because things have been happening a certain way does not mean they should continue to happen that way. The movers and shakers of the world are those who dared to question the status quo- who dared to ask ‘Why Not?”
Climate change protests are no place for kids and then came Greta Thunberg and asked ‘Why Not?” And started a movement with children across the world joining her. She dared to question the biggest of authorities with “How dare you spoil my future?”
Ask anyone and they will tell you that it is technology that is causing all the disruptions in the market place.
That is wrong
It is the people who asked ‘Why Not?”are the ones who’ve caused disruptions.
New technologies come and go.
New technology can be bought
If technology was the key to success then Yahoo would have been ruling. To solve its problems then CEO Marissa Mayer went shopping and bought more than 50 tech startups Eventually 33 of those were shut down, 11 were discontinued and 5 left to do their own thing Only 2 of those startups -Tumblr and BrightRoll could be integrated into Yahoo’s business. In the end a company once valued at $100 billion was sold to Verizon for a little over $4 billion
It forgot to ask the most important question -‘Which is that area of our business where the customer is not satisfied?’
All the so called ‘disruptors’ are just a group of people who asked the right questions.
CVS like all pharmacies was selling medicines then along came Pillbox. It realised that most patients take multiple medicines in a day, and a jumble of pill bottles could be confusing. So not just did it give you the medicines but even organised them into packets with the time to be taken stamped on each packet. Customers flocked in and a new business model that disrupted the old way of doing business was created.
If you don’t want to get redundant or outsmarted then constantly keep asking yourself ‘Why am I here?’ Question yourself and think deep about the answers They won’t come easily but once they do they will change your life
To get answers to the numerous questions Bill Gates spends 2 weeks every year in a forest thinking , questioning and pondering on the future of technology, and new ideas for his company.
Think, Ask, Grow -TAG your way to success !
Is it ego that stops you?
A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.” – Bruce Lee
The one quality that separates leaders from the ‘also rans’ is their ability to ask genuine questions with humility Most leaders (or public figures) feel vulnerable asking questions because they feel as
leaders they are expected to have all the answers and so many pretend to understand when they really don’t.
The world is moving very fast.
Every day brings with it new knowledge, new revelations and new disruptions. Only the humble, who are willing to accept that they do not have all the answers will survive and thrive.
Is it the truth that scares you?
“Fear is a question. What are you afraid of and why? Our fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if we explore them.” – Marilyn French
There are some questions many of us tend to avoid-
When was the last time you let imagination have full rein?
What is that one skill you want to learn but have been pushing it back?
When was the last time you said ‘I love you’ to the people who really matter?
The toughest questions are the ones that need to be answered with the most honesty.
Ask yourself these questions frequently- you need not let anyone know the answers but you need to know the answers.
We avoid asking the hard questions
Many of us don’t ask our doctor for fear of what he/she will tell.
We don’t ask our boss for a raise for fear of upsetting him
So as a start go ahead and question all that you fear.
Is asking the right questions an art?
“Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.” – Euripedes
Yes the ability to ask in a way that you get the best answer is not easy
According to the Harvard Business Review more than 75% of the conversation a four-year old has consists of questions he is constantly and unabashedly asking. As we grow older we question less because society rewards people with answers (be it in school or office). Questioning could lead to one being sidelined or isolated, so we stop speaking up and questioning.
Even when we question we need to know how to ask questions in the right way. Don’t ask to intimidate the other person, don’t ask in a manner that the other person can freely and genuinely give his/her honest opinion.
A research by Harvard says that you need to be aware of the 4 types of questions that can help solve different types of problems.
1) Clarifying questions – Like “Can you tell me more?” Or just a simple “Why do you think so?”
2) Adjoining questions – To help fill in missing information , explore various possibilities ,like ‘How will this work for my company?’
3) Funnelling questions- To get deeper insights into a problem, like ‘Why did you use this method and not the other one’”, ‘Will this work in developing markets too?’
4) Elevating questions- To help you get a bird’s eye view, like ‘How do all these aspects fit into the larger picture/“, ‘Do these various solutions go with our corporate strategy?’
Asking is not enough-ask in the right tone with the right words and the right attitude, to get meaningful answers
As I said earlier T.A.G. your success- and no its not about tagging friends in your Insta and Fb posts but about thinking deep, asking a lot, and eventually growing with the changing times- that is the secret to success.