A rather unusual book to bring to your attention, but having read it, I thought “Why not?”
Warren Berger is the book's author, and his usual field of work is innovation. He has studied hundreds of the world's leading innovators, entrepreneurs and creative thinkers to learn how they ask questions, generate original ideas and solve problems. He has written books and articles on the topic and has appeared on TV. As he says, the book outlines a practical “Why/What If/How” system of inquiry that can guide you through the process of innovative questioning – helping to find imaginative, powerful answers to your own “beautiful questions”.
Before getting on to the details, let's start with the question as to why this may be of interest to you. Presuming that you read this journal as a learning and development (L and D) professional, or at least someone with a keen interest in L and D, you will probably have a curious nature yourself. This book may strengthen that curiosity by providing interesting examples of the advances made through asking the right questions, and may give you a mechanism for directing your own thinking in ways that could be more productive. If you work for an organisation, or work with organisations, you may wish to encourage this deeper level of thinking within others with whom you work.
The book has five chunky chapters. In the first Warren sets out the case for the power of questions. In the second he explores the reasons why we don’t ask enough questions. The third is a detailed look at the suggested process of moving through the questioning stages of “Why”, then “What If” and finally “How”. In the fourth he looks more closely at the power of questions within business and in the fifth he broadens the lens to look at life in general. The book is well written, with many short case studies throughout the chapters to support the main text and an extensive reference section at the end of the book for those looking for more details.
There is lots in the book to get you to thinking. A few snippets.
Is “knowing” obsolete? A combination of faster change and advances in knowledge means that what we know soon becomes out of date. The implication of this is that “knowing” is no longer so useful. A more useful skill would be that of the ability to ask the right questions.
Why do most children ask most questions at the age of four years old, and then ask fewer and fewer as they progress through their school years? Various research is quoted to support this. Likewise, studies have shown that student engagement with their studies drops as they move from elementary, through middle and on to high school. Warren speculates that typical education systems discourage question-asking and reward knowledge learning. Warren and others think that this is very unhelpful and we should look at better ways to school our children. Encouraging continued question-asking will also result in greater engagement.
How do you ask innovation-inducing questions? Well, the process outlined here is to start with the “Why”. “Why can’t I see the picture now?” – the question asked by Edwin Land's three-year-old daughter, which lead to the development of the Polaroid camera. Land worked on this question and moved on to the “What If” stage – what if we could somehow have a dark room inside the camera (this was the 1940 s and he was dealing with rolls of film)? And finally, the “How”, in terms of how can I or we make this happen? These stages of “Why”, “What If” and “How” are shown to be an excellent process map for innovation.
We are also introduced to concepts such as “vuja de” and question storming, amongst many others. Examples and stories come from well-respected companies such as Google, Netflix, IDEO and Airbnb, showing how they value and in fact rely on the skill of asking the right question, and engaging as many people as possible in this activity.
This is a book that should make you think, both as an individual and as someone who has a keen interest in the success of their organisation or indeed society. It is not a book of checklists or quick-fixes, but one that encourages people to step back and undertake a bit of “Slow Thinking”. It works for me.
