Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Questions

It seems almost everyone is looking for answers these days - preferably short and soon! We live with information overload and the pace continues to accelerate.

"Just give me the bottom line." To make a long story short..." "Just make it quick!" "I don't have time." Just the facts ma'am." "I want an answer now!" "Is that your final answer?" "I'm waiting!" Just keep it short and sweet." "

Answers that are short and soon run a high risk for being wrong. If in doubt, try calling the IRS three times in a row with a single question and see how many different answers you get.

Talk is cheap. Think productivity. Where's the accountability?

Perhaps we are getting it backwards. Our need for solutions may be better served with better questions than with quicker answers.

Measure the quality of ones contributions not by the answers they give but by the quality of questions they ask! Measure the progress one is making by the questions they ask.

On reflection...

"One may lead perhaps with not more than a question in hand. " –Richard Foster

“The function of genius is not to give new answers, but to pose new questions - which time and mediocrity can solve.” - Hugh Trevor-Roper

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” - Dr. Seuss quote

“Mistakes come from not asking the right questions” -Anonymous

"We do good science when we ask new questions” -Anonymous

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. - Galileo

“If we are asking the right questions, we are probably living the right answers” - Rilke

Are you asking the right questions? Are you taking the time neccesary to formulate the right questions? Do you need better answers or better questions? Is opportunity more often found in answers or hidden in questions? What is your next big question? What new questions are awaiting you on the back side of beyond?

Bob

(c) copyright 2009
Performance Builders

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