Do you ask enough questions?
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Do you ask enough questions?
I did not.
The single highest impact thing I have learned in my post-Amazon years is the value of asking more and better questions.
Many of us are so eager to talk, to jump in with our ideas, that we miss the chance to truly understand others first.
When coaching leaders I have found that they learn much faster when asked a question that leads them to really think about their situation or problem in a new way.
Often I "know" an answer to their problem, but if I provide it, what they learn is "ask Ethan for answers" rather than how to formulate their own insights. When we think through things ourselves, we both own our conclusions and build our abilities.
Thus consider for yourself, do you learn more deeply when you are told something or when you are asked a question (or given a task) that leads you to your own realization?
Plenty of leaders and books told me to ask more questions, but it wasn't until I started coaching others many hours a day that I really put it into practice.
Do not make my mistake. I would have been more effective as a leader if I had listened sooner.
Perhaps no one asked me the right question...
Jeff Bezos used to ask 3 questions of any opportunity:
Is it real? Is the opportunity we are looking at real or is it a time machine or something in perpetual motion?