Imagine you are in a high-level strategy meeting, and your team is attempting to arrive at a solution to an important problem. What is your instinctive course of action? The natural response of somebody who, understandably, does not want to appear unprepared, ill-informed or indecisive is to deliberate internally before speaking, and then deliver a...
Imagine you are in a high-level strategy meeting, and your team is attempting to arrive at a solution to an important problem. What is your instinctive course of action? The natural response of somebody who, understandably, does not want to appear unprepared, ill-informed or indecisive is to deliberate internally before speaking, and then deliver a thought-out answer. But is that the right response to arrive at an innovative breakthrough?
According to leadership and innovation expert Hal Gregersen, by taking such an answer-centric approach to problem-solving, leaders miss opportunities to innovate in bigger, bolder ways. Rather, the better method is to ask what he calls “catalytic” questions – ones that penetrate beyond the surface-level discussion. In his highly anticipated new book, “Questions Are the Answer: A Breakthrough Approach to Your Most Vexing Problems at Work and in Life” (Harper Collins, November 2018), Gregersen draws on extensive research with some of the world’s creative problem-solvers, including many of the most successful CEOs of our time, to reveal how organizations can create a culture of questioning.
Gregersen goes further than providing case studies; he has devised a three-step methodology which shows how companies can be transformed to firmly embed question-asking in their DNA. This is not an agenda for senior executives only, but a call for leaders to create a new culture that encourages everyone to put curiosity and open discussion at the heart of their daily routines. Based on more than 200 interviews with successful leaders, Gregersen prescribes a superior framework with which to build a dynamic organization by recognizing the transformative power of inquiry.
In an era when companies face more competition and potential disruption than ever before, “Questions Are the Answer” – currently available for preorder – is an indispensable guide for leaders in all types of organizations to transform the core culture of their businesses.
To learn more about Hal Gregersen’s speaking presentations, workshops and consulting and advisory services, contact us.
