"A very powerful question may not have an answer at the moment it is asked. It will sit rattling in the mind for days or weeks as the person works on an answer. If the seed is planted, the answer will grow. Questions are alive." - Fran Peavey
"The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a very creative mind to spot wrong questions." - Anthony Jay
"The answers you get depend upon the questions you ask." – Thomas Kuhn
"The first people had questions and they were free. The second people had answers and they became enslaved." - Wind Eagle, Native American Chief
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day. Never lose a holy curiosity." - Albert Einstein
"I'm much more interested these days in having debates about what the questions should be than I necessarily am about the solutions." - Tim Brown, IDEO CEO, The New York Times
"If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?" - Scott Adams
Some Questions
“Customer satisfaction is best measured by one simple question, 'How likely are you to recommend ____ to a friend?' - Fred Reichheld, Bain & Company
"If you weren't already in a business, would you enter it today? And if the answer is no, what are you going to do about it?" - Peter Drucker to Jack Welch, 1981
"Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?" - Steve Jobs
"Would you want your wife to pee in this place?” - Paco Underhill, Why We Buy
“The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question 'How can we eat?' the second by the question 'Why do we eat?' and the third by the question 'Where shall we have lunch?'" - Douglas Adams
Scanning the Periphery
From a Masters Forum Presentation, Roch Parayre, DSI
- What have been our past blind spots?
- What is happening there now?
- Is there an instructive analogy from another industry?
- Who in your industry is skilled at picking up weak signals and acting on them ahead of competition?
- What important signals are you rationalizing away?
- What are your mavericks and authors saying?
- What are peripheral customers and competitors really thinking?
- What future surprises could hurt or help us?
- What emerging technologies could change the game?
- Is there an unthinkable scenario?
From TED Global 2009 by Chris Anderson
- What is an accomplished life?
- Which universe do we live in?
- Is life a mathematical equation?
- Where does motivation come from?
- Who's defining the new geopolitical map?
- How can we observe what we can't see?
- Can we design the air we breathe?
- What's the economic impact of terrorism?
- Should we fear faith?
- What makes big cities function?
- What do top-secret places look like?
- What's the true nature of modern crime?
- Can a solar-powered plane fly?
- What's the power of music?
- Can we put biodiversity in a bank?
- How does the brain create the mind?
From No Easy Victories by John Gardner
- What things are forgotten in the heat of battle?
- What values get pushed aside in the rough-and-tumble of everyday living?
- What are the goals we ought to be thinking about and never do?
- What are the facts we don’t like to face?
- What are the questions we lack the courage to ask?
From the Harvard Business School
Scanning for Threats and Opportunities by George S. Day & Paul J.H. Schoemaker
From Knowledge@Wharton
Vigilant vs. Operational Leaders (PDF)
From Bowling Green State University
A Lifetime List of Dialogue Questions by Walter Maner
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