questions
13 posts
Leveraging Our Mistakes
Each day we overlook some opportunity to see or to serve. We fail to challenge our assumptions and hold fast to our opinions. The result is that we sometimes miss the opportunity to do better. This feels like bad news. But it doesn’t have to be. What if instead of saying; ‘I could kick myself…
In Answer To Your Question
We like to ask for advice. It’s human to investigate all the angles—to seek the opinions of others. And yet in doing so, we can forget to reflect on our insights and assumptions. We often forget to check in with our beliefs before considering what someone else thinks. What if before sought advice, w
Questions Worth Asking
The progress we make in business and in life hinges on our ability to ask the right questions at the right time. What we need to discern and prioritise are the questions it’s most important to address. The questions we don’t know the answers to can be divided into three categories: 1. Questions that
How Much Do The Answers Matter?
Asking questions is a big part of our job whatever our role. We know we can enhance our products and services and improve client outcomes by asking the right ones and acting on the answers. So we send surveys. We listen to what people say and watch what they do. We go to the trouble…
The Value Question
What’s the one unanswered question you believe would unlock the most value in your business? Why does it matter? How would knowing the answer change your strategy? Where can you find the information you need? What’s stopping you? Image by Derrick Story.
What To Question
The comedian doesn’t think about how he to be funnier, he tries to understand what makes people laugh and why. The shoe designer doesn’t simply consider what will look good, she obsesses over what will make a woman feel good. The architect doesn’t just consider the orientation of the building, he ca
Two Kinds Of Feedback
A common way to get feedback is to describe what you’re creating in detail and then to ask a prospective customer if they would use it. This is equivalent to asking someone for an honest answer to the question, “Does my bum look big in this?” Sometimes the answers we seek out are not the…
What Are Your Competitors Failing To Do?
Like many new mothers Jessica Alba wanted to buy non-toxic baby products, they were incredibly difficult to find information about and source, this inspired her to found The Honest Company. Dave Gilboa lost a $700 pair of glasses and couldn’t afford to replace them, his experience was the seed of an
Questioning The Questions—The Truth About Your Data
You’ve probably been on one of those calls to a service provider where having pressed, one, then two, then one again and being on hold for fifteen minutes you finally get to speak to a human being. Sadly, the undervalued team member at the call centre is charged with doing his best to troubleshoot h
The Limitations Of Knowing ‘How To’
For years we’ve been rewarded for knowing the right answer. All of those gummed gold stars licked and stuck in copybooks next to neatly spaced handwriting, served their purpose. We can’t help wanting to know the answer. Knowing ‘how to’ is barely an advantage to the twenty first century business own
The 11 Whys Of Product Development
In my work with companies, entrepreneurs and businesses of all stripes, here’s what I’ve found. We mostly get stuck not because we don’t know the right answer, but because we haven’t begun to ask the right questions. Here’s a handy list of questions to ask before you bring your product, service or i
The Most Important Question You’re Forgetting To Ask
From the outside looking in The Lego Group had a hugely successful business a decade ago. It was a beloved brand that seemed to be surviving the digital age. The balance sheet told a different story though and Lego had more years in the red than in the black between 1998 and 2004. Part of…
6 Questions Every Startup Should Ask
1. What problem are we solving? 2. What need are we fulfilling? 3. Who are we solving the problem for? 4. How are we least like the competition? 5. How do we tell that story? 6. Why this, why us and why now? What questions have you asked yourself? Image by dasmart.
