A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas Paperback – September 13, 2016

I read the 1-Star reviews and their Amazon accounts should be revoked (just kidding). Seriously, asking questions is a critical skill for my profession and I understand how hard it can be to be curious, listen effectively and ask a good question at the 'right' time. Berger's book deserves 6 stars! I learned a ton and have already used the 'question sandwich' and shared it with my clients. If you want to make better connections with other people, be more creative and just ask better questions, buy this book.One 1-star review calls this a "leftist" book & another said the author wanted to do away with test - both claims are completely false. Truly being curious, asking good questions and engaging others with intellectual humility is scary and goes against many of our instincts.

After reading Glimmer, Warren Berger's 2009 book looking at designers and design thinking, I became a fan of sorts and pre-ordered A More Beautiful Question anticipating something good as a follow-up. I wasn't disappointed. Like Glimmer -- and perhaps design thinking -- Berger takes both a deep dive and a broad stroke over his subject matter. This is tough to do well, but Berger pulls it off.There is something delightful about looking at something that seems so obvious and simple, but is far from simplistic, in detail. Berger goes through the vast swaths of research and evidence on question formation and innovation and blends it seamlessly with anecdotes, observations and questions...lots and lots of questions. To 'live the title' of the book, the text is organized around questions and, at least with the Kindle, the questions are hyperlinked to explanations at the back about their origin and relevance. This feature was wonderful and frustrating -- but largely due to technology. I read using a Nexus tablet, but my preferred reader is the original Kindle. On that latter device, the linking becomes a frustration in that it is sometimes hard to get back to your place. But that's a small point.Berger's style of writing is engaging, balancing conciseness with informality, and using enough revisiting of ideas in different places in the text to thread ideas throughout the narrative, but not too much to feel repetitive. I loved this just as I loved Glimmer.What a reader will take from this is that questions are important, that the best (and most consistent) innovators, leaders and scientists are typically great at asking questions and not just providing answers. Indeed, Berger makes the case that the question and answer are inextricably linked showing dozens of examples of how the habits of questioning lead to exciting outcomes. He also offers a challenge to anyone involved in education -- which, he'd argue is nearly everyone in this age of change and ongoing learning -- to examine how questions are encouraged and discouraged to shun curiosity. This has enormous implications and, as we see, gets replicated in our businesses and other organizations.If this book does anything for you I hope it gets you to ask better questions and enjoy not always having answers. Taken to heart, the message of paying attention to the questions -- living the questions if you will -- is one that may have profound consequences on your life, work, and learning.

BOOK REVIEW: "A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas by Warren Berger.Such a great book that really causes the mind to wander, question, and unpack several deep-seated narratives about self and the world outside. There is a natural ability to question that often gets squelched by social constructs that say "fall in line" with everyone else. Teachers eventually ask the questions instead of the students. Students who become adults and working-class citizens stop asking questions for fear of being called out, embarrassed for not knowing, or reprimanded for not asking their question "the right" way.The "right way"? LOL! 😂 Ever been stuck in the car with a 3-year old who wants to know why the sky is blue?There is no right or wrong way to ask a question unless one is asking a question to which they already know the answer(s). This type of questioning has a tendency to insult the one being asked and can be perceived as manipulative and arrogant. Steer clear of this type of questioning if you want to gain a person's trust or cooperation.Ask questions with the curiosity of a child!Kids are awesome! Kids have a natural tendency, and without any inhibitions, I might add, to ask questions to help them frame in the world around them. They are not embarrassed until made to feel so. They may even repeat the question because the answers we give them are insufficient or they believe we did not understand their inquiry. But somewhere along their developmental pathway, the kids stop asking questions and others start asking them the questions. Teaching to the test (if you will), whether that test is on some academic level or in a professional career.How does one break that cycle and get back to that child-like curiosity? Asking questions one truly DOES NOT know the answers to but is willing to ask in order to find out. Willing to be embarrassed! Willing to be ridiculed! Willing to be innovative! Willing to be vulnerable! People we each would consider great inventors, innovators, and thinking have this ability to question everything. This book helps to provide that pathway through Why?, What If?, and How? to get to the potential" solution.This book discusses: 1) The Power of Inquiry, 2) Why We Stop Questioning, 3) The Why, What If, and the How of Innovative Questioning, 4) Questions in Business, and 5) Questioning Life. I will share with you that each of us has not 'stopped' questioning per se but we do it in safe spaces. We do it in our minds where there is no judgment but our own. We do it when we work on something we love such as cooking, hiking, vacation planning, driving, decorating, and other tasks. We may ask, "Why do we always take the same route to work?" "What if I took an alternate route?" "How would I get there and would it save time?" This is a safe space as it is not determined by others, but almost by me entirely with the small or large exception of others on the road. The point is that the decisions are mine with consequences I own, and the risk 'feel' fairly small. But to ask a question in front of my colleagues and peers...well that's another matter entirely! Fear immediately takes over and preconceived potential outcomes flood the mind.John Seely Brown points out that questioning by students can easily come to be seen as a threat by some teachers. “If you come from the belief that teachers are meant to be authoritative, then teachers are going to tend to want to cut off questioning that might reveal what they don’t know. (pp.56-57)” Furthermore, questioning within a business environment can also create a perceived threat to authority. Those with expertise may resent having their learned views questioned by nonexperts. Managers trying to keep things moving may feel they shouldn’t have to answer a subordinate’s questions. Questioning may be seen as slowing progress, particularly by those who believe that what the company needs most are “answers, not more questions. (p.166)”I happen to believe, promote, practice, encourage, and reward people, peers, and direct reports when they ask questions. When I taught many in our organization Lean Methodology and Strategy Principles I would make sure that they understood, "The only stupid question is the one you do not ask!!!" I try to practice the same principle on my social media platforms. Many times I do not even care "how" the person may ask because it may be coming from a place of frustration, anger, sadness, depression, or misunderstanding. Why is it so wrong for them to ask? Just to know more...to be validated and heard...to have someone listen without judgment and without ridiculing them. We all need that safe space if we are going to grow, have meaningful discord, innovate, and move on to more opportunities to question.While I enjoyed the book and it confirmed many of my existing practices around questioning, to walk this path will come at a price and great reward. When we question others, as stated earlier, some will assume you are questioning their authority. First, I'd say "stay the course" and develop a thick skin. "A good way to become unpopular in a business meeting is to ask, “Why are we doing this?”—even though the question may be entirely justified. It often takes a thick-skinned outsider to be willing to even try (p.76).Second, I would get really skilled at 'how' you ask the questions. Sometimes a politely stated question is not clearly understood nor investigated, especially if folks have been playing nice, tactful, and whispering sweet nothings into one another's ears for several repeated meetings with no real outcomes. As we say in Lean Strategies, "If you've had several monthly meetings about the same problem with no potential cause for action or solution, you are NOT trying to solve the problem, you're ADMIRING it!" Sometimes you may have to change 'how' you ask a question because you may never see the people you are working with again (e.g. a consultant at a conference or in a one-off meeting). Other times when you know this will be a repeated event a softer more tactful approach is always more appropriate.Finally, do not give up. Mistakes will happen. You may have to clarify your question(s), but don't stop asking. We have the Red Cross today because Henry Dunant asked about preparation during peacetime so that we were ready in times of war. Bette Nesmith Graham thought about the ability to paint over mistakes and liquid paper was born. And when Dwayne Douglas asked, "Why aren't players urinating more after games?" (like who measures THAT!), we got Gatorade! Cracker Jacks, windshield wipers, intermittent windshield wiper setting in cars, NETFLIX, Pandora Radio, Morse code, and many other innovative ideas started with WHY?, WHAT IF? and HOW?Enjoy the book! I'll be reading this one again!