Stephen H Baum Leadership

GOOD CEOS ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS…DO YOU?

THE BOTTOM LINE

Questions can be more important than answers. Good CEOs know this. Among the questions: “What don’t I know that could kill me?” And “Am I pushing too hard or not hard enough?”

BUILT INTO MUSCLE MEMORY

It is NOT that they do it every day, just periodically. Good CEOs challenge their own assumptions and their own knowledge and routinely do it to others. They also imagine scenarios beyond those for which they are planning. “What if….” is a frequent question not only to test assumptions, strategy and plans but also how the organization may have to adapt in the face of change.

LEVELS OF QUESTIONS

In a meeting, if you ask for questions and allow “top of mind” responses you will often get superficial answers. If you ask each person to write down their top 2 or 3 best questions that go deepest to the situation at hand, then go around the table you will get richer answers.

There are workshops (including in my Vistage International community) which suggest an architecture to questions:

Level 1 questions elicit facts and known solutions.

Level 2 questions elicit elaboration of thinking and logic (or lack of it).

Level 3 questions reveal deeply held emotions (including fears), prejudices and more.

If this is of general interest, we may write a column with more granular insights into asking terrific questions. It is, after all what both leaders and coaches need to do all the time.

WORTH READING

In 1988, Richard Neustadt and Ernest May wrote: “Thinking in Time, The Use of History for Decision-Makers.” I find it is timeless (no pun intended). Do I know all I could? How could I find out what i really need to know? Is the analogy in my head a good one or flawed? Let’s decide how to think about “this” before we decide “what to do about this.”

The book is still available on Amazon.com.

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Vistage

That’s just my view. What’s yours?