A student convinced me I should write this book.
Simone (I’ve changed her name) had arranged to interview her father—I’ll call him Morley—for an assignment I had given my Art of the Interview class. A devoted family man, Morley kept his emotions to himself and was not prone to reflection. At first he refused. “Go find someone else,” he told his daughter. But Simone persisted, and finally her father agreed to the interview, camera and all.
Simone had questions she always wanted to ask. Morley had issues he never wanted to discuss. They sat facing each other in the den, a place both of them knew well. Simone started with some innocuous open-ended questions, a classic interviewing technique. She asked about her father’s college days and how he met his wife, Simone’s mother. When Morley seemed more relaxed, Simone asked the question she’d been thinking about for a long time.
“Before I was born a child passed away,” she said. “Can you tell me what happened?” For more than twenty years, the family had faithfully commemorated the child’s birthday, but they had never really talked about what happened.
“She was born premature,” Morley said. “She lived for about a day and a half. Her lungs hadn’t fully formed. That created a series of other problems.” He paused. Then came the secret he’d never told anyone, not even his own parents.
“Your mom and I decided that we would disconnect her from life support.” His voice trailed off. He swallowed hard, trying to stay in control.
Simone kept going. “Was it a difficult decision? How did you and mom handle that?” Her father teared up. So did she.
Morley’s words came slowly. “At the time it was very hard … It was probably hardest to see some of our friends with kids at that time.” Another pause. “But those experiences shape you.” He looked at his daughter. He saw a beautiful and smart young woman—his legacy and his love. Still emotional, Morley told her she wouldn’t be alive if that terrible event had not occurred.
Simone’s head was spinning. To learn the details was difficult enough, but to see her strong, unshakable father so upset revealed a vulnerability she had never seen.
“I understand now, after what he had been through, why I meant so much to him,” she told me later. “I understand why he has always made such an effort to spend time with me, to be there for important events in my life, to tell me how proud he is of me. Now when he gives me a hug I don’t pull away as quickly. When I miss his call I make sure to try him back right away.”
Simone uncovered a deep secret, discovered a different side of her dad, and changed the way she related to her father simply because she asked. More, much more, than an oral history came from her questions.
And so I began to explore the power of questions in their different forms.
I talked to dozens of people, master questioners if you will, to understand how they used questions in their lives and professions and to see what we could learn from them. The inquiry teachers in this book comprise some of the most fascinating and successful people I’ve met, some famous and some not so famous. The arc of their lives has been assisted by their ability to question the people and the world around them.
The book begins with a problem. If you’ve ever confronted something that’s gone wrong, with time running out, you know that asking the right questions can make the difference between a good call and a catastrophic mistake. Chapter 2 introduces you to people who diagnose problems for a living: a nurse-practitioner in Appalachia, a renowned corporate turnaround artist, and my neighbor, the roofer. They’re all experts at asking questions to pinpoint a problem so they can fix it. You’ll see how you can zero in, listen hard, and draw on experience and instinct.
Chapter 3, “The General’s Charge,” shows you how to stand back and think big when the stakes are high and the outcome is unclear. Strategic questions ask about choices, risks, and consequences. They force you to challenge conventional wisdom and your own biases. They lead to better, clearer thinking and better planning when you’re weighing big decisions. As General Colin Powell explained to me, great strategic questions can inform the hardest decisions, just as failing to ask the right questions can lead to disaster.
If you want to connect with someone, you will see how the experts do it as you read Chapter 4, “From the Inside Out.” Empathetic questions can bring you closer to people you know or have just met. These questions help you become a better friend, colleague, partner, or family member. They lead to deeper understanding and discovery. You’ll hear from a family therapist, a Harvard professor who teaches empathy, and from one of the best interviewers in America, NPR’s Terry Gross.
Want to know a secret, maybe a dangerous one? In Chapter 5 you’ll learn how careful, patient questioning can build a bridge to someone who doesn’t want to talk to you. These bridging questions reach out to people who are wary, distrustful, and even hostile. You’ll see how an expert in Dangerous Threat Assessment uses them to solve difficult, and sometimes volatile, human puzzles. He asks questions without question marks. Understanding how this is done will help you communicate, if not with terrorists, then at least with teenagers.
And if no bridge can be built? Chapter 6 will show you how you can use confrontational questions to hold people accountable for what they’ve done or said. While this kind of inquiry is often unpleasant, as I once discovered in a bizarre encounter, it does establish a record. Know what you’re after, as Anderson Cooper explains. Be prepared for the consequences, as Jorge Ramos recounts. But as you will see, if you have the courage of your convictions, know what you’re talking about, and can ask with precision, you can be a more formidable adversary.
How many times have you heard that you should think outside the box, be original, and take a chance? In Chapter 7 you’ll realize you can get there through questions, not commands. If you want to get creative juices really flowing, ask people to imagine, to set their sights high, to pretend gravity doesn’t exist. What do California Lieutenant Governor and former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Hollywood television series creator Ed Bernero have in common? They both use questions to transport people to a place where they cannot fail.
In Chapter 8, “The Solvable Problem,” you’ll see how you can create a sense of purpose and mission through your questions and inspire people to pitch in, or maybe even write a check. You’ll meet Karen Osborne, who has raised millions of dollars, and Rick Leach, who wants to feed the world. You can borrow from their approach to become your own pied piper. You’ll discover surprising ways to improve listening, set common goals, and take concrete action.
Chapter 9 ventures into the unknown and the unexplained to see how scientific questions can solve the mysteries of the world. You will meet the doctor-researcher who threw himself at HIV/AIDS and Ebola when people were dying and the public was in panic. You’ll also find inspiration and ideas you can apply in your own life.
Next come the money questions. You’re trying to fill a job. You want the job. What you ask tests your compatibility and, just maybe, predicts the future. Chapter 10 shows you how these questions get asked—from both sides. You’ll meet a CEO who goes for the team approach and a technology veteran who just might ask about your favorite aisle in the supermarket.