Asking Smarter Questions

Insight is the superpower that drives innovation and enables us to understand the world from other peoples’ points of view, be they customers or colleagues, advocates or competitors. This new book from data storyteller Sam Knowles explains how to ask smarter questions – questions that, by design, stimulate more useful answers. This is the shortcut to better productivity, fast-tracked innovation, and organisational success – for businesses, universities, charities, and governments. For too long, the simple act of asking questions has been overlooked as almost too trivial to contemplate. Asking Smarter Questions seeks to champion the art of curiosity by setting out a framework to make every question count. The fundamental building blocks of insight are data and information, joined together in new and often unpredictable ways. The way we surface new data and information and make meaningful connections between data points is by asking smarter questions. By taking this approach, you can make your organisation a less confrontational, more collaborative, and more productive environment in which to work – particularly in the more distributed and remote settings that will characterise the 2020s. Managers, directors, and leaders will find the universal principles, expert interviews, and data-driven recommendations a source of inspiration to share with their teams. Asking Smarter Questions is aimed at professionals in businesses and organisations across all sectors, and will help those working in many functions, including market research, intelligence, insight, analytics, strategy, marketing, communications, planning, product development, and innovation.

This book reveals how the leading creators of solutions think and approach their assignments. It shows how to use three "foundation" questions: focusing on uniqueness, purposeful information, and systems. These three questions are an essential starting point for exploring problems. This, in turn leads to other key questions that will ultimately create effective solutions.

What hidden skill links successful people in all walks of life? The answer is surprisingly simple: they know how to ask the right questions at the right time. Questions help us break down barriers, discover secrets, solve puzzles, and imagine new ways of doing things. The right question can provide for us not only the answer we need right then but also the ones we’ll need tomorrow. Emmy award–winning journalist and media expert Frank Sesno wants to teach you how to question others in a methodical, intentional way so that you can find the same success that others have found by mastering this simple skill. In Ask More, you will learn: How the Gates Foundation used strategic questions to plan its battle against malaria How turnaround expert Steve Miller uses diagnostic questions to get to the heart of a company's problems How creative questions animated a couple of techie dreamers to brainstorm Uber How journalist Anderson Cooper uses confrontational questions to hold people accountable Throughout Ask More, you’ll explore all different types of inquiries--from questions that cement relationships, to those that will help you plan for the future. By the end, you’ll know what to ask and when, what you should listen for, and what you can expect as the outcome.

101 Fun Questions to ask your Kids - The supreme book for igniting conversations with the youngest members of your family. Crack it open at dinnertime, on road trips, during vacations and beyond. Some of the questions are silly, others splashed with science and history, while still others are fantastical. Once you ask one question, your kids will want to answer them all.

Questions... ? demand answers ? stimulate thinking ? give us valuable information ? put us in control ? get people to open up ? lead to quality listening ? get people to sell themselves They're an essential tool of the seeker and the problem-solver, and in our personal and professional lives, they can make the difference between getting what we want and going without. Questions have power-and by harnessing that power, we can change our world. This unique book reveals the seven powers of questions-and shows how to use them most effectively. Learn how questions can improve relationships, help determine what people really want, uncover opportunities, persuade others, and get more out of every business or personal encounter.

A top management consultant, Leeds shows how to turn ordinary conversational skills into impressive business tools. Includes tips on how to ask the right person the right question at the right time, reduce mistakes, gain control over volatile situations, and more.

Stop Holding Yourself Back—It's Time to Go Ask! The strongest relationships, top sales groups, and most successful organizations have one thing in common: people who have the courage to ask outrageously. This doesn't mean being obnoxious or taking advantage of people. It means not compromising, taking a risk to get what you know you need, not what you think you can get. Based on Linda Swindling's original research and her experience helping people make high-stakes requests in everything from business negotiations to marriage proposals, this book offers proven approaches to improve your asking and boost your chances of success. Whether you are a professional looking for a bigger opportunity, an entrepreneur striving to build a company, a nonprofit seeking funding, or simply a parent or friend wanting a more fulfilling relationship, it's time to make that big ask! Get ready. Your results will surpass your greatest expectations!