Asking Questions

Some of the best leaders I have worked with didn't always have the the solution, but were awesome at asking incredibly deep yet simple questions. They could ask these deep questions on topics of varying breadth with equal comfort. This enabled to add value and provide perspective to even discussions where they were not the SME.

They were genuinely curious about how things work, about the presentation you were explaining to the them. They never pretended to know more than they did and were comfortable being vulnerable to ask. And because they were authentic in their curosity and simple with their questions, the team's loved getting their perspective on different things. They were most sought after for preparatory run when there was a marquee project to be presented to a difficult client.

Their ability to distil the presentation or situation into first principle questions was remarkable. They connected the dots as if it was obvious, and everytime you were in a room with them you couldn't help being impressed with their approach to things (not just solutions but questions).

Once I asked one of them how they are able to do so, and here is what the senior leader said

- "I look at everything as an opportunity to learn. If I cannot explain it in a few lines back to you means I didn't understand it."

- "When I ask a question I am genuinely interested in knowing more about a thing than showing how much I know. Sometimes people fall into this trap. In our work it's uncanny how knowledge of unrelated things can piece together."

- "When you ask someone, do it in a way that makes them comfortable rather than questioning their preparedness. People seldom react to questions, but react often when they feel questioned."