Questions vs. Answers

This is the first of several posts this coming week on Change Your Questions, Change Your Life by Marilee Adams, Ph.D. (Berrett-Koehler, 2009).

"Some men see things as they are and ask why? I dream dreams that never were and ask why not?” Ted Kennedy quoted this line from George Bernard Shaw’s play “Back to Methusala” to describe his brother Bobbie Kennedy—after he’d been assassinated--to the shock and dismay of the country and the world.

Marilee Adam’s book, Change Your Questions Change Your Life, helps explain how questions create frameworks of the mind. Most especially, she explains how questions transform our thinking and eventually our actions.

Many of us have grown up and been rewarded (and punished, Adams might add) for being the “answer person.” She explains how having all the answers is far more dangerous and less productive than having all the right questions. Moving from a position of Judging (having the right answers) to Learning (asking the right questions), creates a wining dynamic and keeps us out of what she calls the Judger Pit…a morass of blame, second guessing, and finger pointing.

This week, I’ll explore her work in a series of posts and hope you’ll join me.

End of the Journey of the Accidental Leader

This is the 6th and FINAL of several posts this week on my book The Journey of the Accidental Leader (HRD Press 2008).

Basic tenants of The Journey of the Accidental Leader follow:

9. Initiative: The long journey starts with the first step. Often we get stuck in the mud of indecision. It’s fine, in fact healthy, to question everything along the way. However, at some point, you have to take the first, often uncertain step and then the next. If you look to far down the path, it might be scary. Better to take the first step before worrying about all the rest.

10. People: Have a passion for people. Nothing gets the work done like having a passion for people. Ask yourself: What can I do to help these people be successful? If you keep such a question in your leadership toolbox, it won’t ever let you down. You’re programmed by the questions you ask yourself. Put your questions through the Passion for People filter.

Best of luck!

Lessons 7 and 8 from The Journey of the Accidental Leader

This is the 5th of several posts this week on my book The Journey of the Accidental Leader (HRD Press 2008).

Basic tenants of The Journey of the Accidental Leader follow:


7. Courage: Leadership is all about courage. Here’s a simple formula for this principle: Leaders do the right thing, at the right time, for the right reason. Companies with thick rule books miss the point of this idea. If you have to tell managers everything they can and cannot do, you never develop the kind of courageous leader who will take the company to the next level. The best rule to lead by: Do the right thing, at the right time, for the right reason.

8. Principles: Change will happen if you stick to your core principles while reaching toward the future and adapting to the world as it changes. Everything changes dynamically. Nothing stays the same, so leaders must adapt and remain flexible or be set adrift. The key: Stay focused on core, sound principles upon which the company was founded. Try to keep those always before you.