Ask More: The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change pdfdrive com

CONTENTS
Foreword
CHAPTER 1:
Why Ask?
CHAPTER 2:
Something’s Not Right: Diagnostic Questions
What’s the Problem?
“Miss Nosy”
The Mystery Patient
Bad News Is Good News
History Is News, Too
Challenge the Expert
After the Diagnosis, the Strategy
CHAPTER 3:
The General’s Charge: Strategic Questions
Set Your Sights
A Strategic Approach
A General’s Command
Eight Yeses
Failure Is an Option
Getting Personal
Challenge Yourself
CHAPTER 4:
From the Inside Out: Empathy Questions
The Good Professor
The Empathetic Interviewer
Therapeutic Inquiry
License and Limits
CHAPTER 5:
The Gentle Interrogator: Bridging Questions

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Get Them Talking
Solving Puzzles
Affirm and Acknowledge
Questions Without Question Marks
Echo Questions
Build the Bridge
CHAPTER 6:
For the Record: Confrontational Questions
Care to Listen
Unintended Consequences
Demanding Answers
Confronting Power
An Audience Helps
No Way Out
Blunt Force
CHAPTER 7:
Imagine This: Creativity Questions
Beyond the Possible
Travel in Time
Cutting Strings
Imagined Reality
Ask for Subversion
CHAPTER 8:
The Solvable Problem: Mission Questions
Listening for Common Goals
The Value Proposition
Change the World
Sharing Works
What Brings You Here?
Asking to Listen
Solve Problems with Purpose
CHAPTER 9:
Into the Unknown: Scientific Questions
The Doctor’s Quest
A Mystery Killer
Cultures Clash
Test but Verify

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Stretch Yourself
Slow Answers to Slow Questions
CHAPTER 10:
The Edison Test: Interview Questions
Hunting the Best Heads
Look Back, Look Ahead
Finding Innovation
Be Ready for the Curveball
The Candid Candidate
Asking for the Team
Interview the Interviewer
Bright Ideas
CHAPTER 11:
The Inspired Host: Entertaining Questions
Set the Stage, Set the Tone
You’re On!
Supper with Socrates
Asking for Laughs
A Host of Questions
CHAPTER 12:
Lessons for Life: Legacy Questions
Seeking Context
Why Didn’t I Ask?
The Rabbi
Facing Failure
In Search of Meaning
Asking for Life
CHAPTER 13:
I’m Glad I Asked
The Justice of Citizenship
Ask to Lead
Poems of Humanity
Always Asking
Profane and Profound
Question Guide
Diagnostic Questions

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Strategic Questions
Empathy Questions
Bridging Questions
Confrontational Questions
Creativity Questions
Mission Questions
Scientific Questions
Interview Questions
Entertaining Questions
Legacy Questions
Index
About the Author
Free Sample The Power of Presence By Kristi Hedges
About Amacom

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FOREWORD
If you want answers, you have to ask questions.
It sounds simple. But it isn’t. Asking the right question, at the right time, of
the right person—and knowing what to do with the answer you get—takes
thought, skill, practice and—sometimes—luck. As my friend and former
colleague Frank Sesno explains in this inspired and inspiring book, questions can
solve problems. They can change lives. And the right questions at the right
moment can even influence history.
In the spring of 1977 a group of reporters shuffled into a small room on the
first floor of Blair House, the brick townhouse on Pennsylvania Avenue across
from the White House. Anwar Sadat, the President of Egypt, was staying there
and had agreed to take questions from the media. Tension in the Middle East
was high, but Sadat—erudite and savvy—seemed eager to open a new chapter in
the region. A young reporter in the back of the room eventually raised his hand.
“Mr. President,” he said, “you seem so sincere in your quest for peace. Why
don’t you do something to demonstrate that to Israel? Perhaps you could open
some direct human contact with Israel? Why not allow an exchange of
journalists or athletes or scholars?”
It seemed like a simple question, but it was one no one had asked. If you
want peace, wouldn’t there have to be face-to-face contact first?
Sadat thought for a minute. Then he answered: “Part of the Arab-Israeli
conflict is a psychological one. I myself have no objection to this. But, believe
me, our people are not yet ready for this after 29 years of hatred and four wars
and bitterness. All that has happened …we must take it gradually.”
I was the young reporter at the back of the room. And that question, Sadat
would later say “germinated” in his mind for months, eventually leading to his
groundbreaking trip to Jerusalem to address the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, and
later, in 1979, to a peace treaty signed at the White House. For all the trouble in
the region, that Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty remains in effect, a shred of
stability in a volatile area.

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There are few people in journalism better at asking questions than Frank
Sesno. As CNN’s White House Correspondent, Frank never shied away from
speaking truth to power. He was smooth yet forceful, respectful but skeptical. He
asked probing and sharp questions. There were no speeches in his questions, no
grandstanding. He listened closely to the answers and he followed up when the
White House dodged or tried to change the subject.
Later, as the host of CNN’s Sunday talk show, Frank interviewed people
from every walk of life. He questioned politicians and business leaders, Nobel
Prize winners and celebrities, activists and athletes. He asked tough questions
when necessary, but he could also gently draw out a guest who had suffered a
setback, or been through tragedy. Frank’s passion for engaging people and
asking questions reflects his deep curiosity in others and their stories. It shines
through in Ask More, as Frank shows how anyone can be more successful by
asking questions more effectively.
When I came to CNN in 1990, my experience was as a print reporter. I
wasn’t used to my questions being seen on-camera or scrutinized by viewers. In
those early days, Frank allowed me to shadow him as he worked. Later, when he
was CNN’s Washington Bureau Chief, I benefited from his advice and counsel
as I formulated my own questions to ask presidents, kings, and dictators. Frank
was not only a friend and mentor; he was an exceptional teacher (something he
now does for a new generation at The George Washington University). His
talent for getting to the heart of the matter and making fundamental concepts
clear through compelling stories and vivid examples makes this a truly engaging
book from which everyone will benefit.
There are different types of questions for different types of situations.
Sometimes you’re asking questions because you really don’t know the answer;
other times you need to confront a person in power to hold him or her to
account. In Ask More Frank explains how questions differ and how they can be
used to elicit information, educate your audience, explore untold stories, build
bridges, and more. His insights and practical tips—from the types of questions to
ask and the best ways to structure them, to suggestions for better listening—are
useful in all aspects of life and will change the way you think about asking
questions.
In Ask More, Frank shares real-world examples from fascinating people
skilled in probing for answers to show how all of us can use the right questions
to obtain information that might otherwise elude us, to solve difficult problems,
to be more creative and better informed, or to make stronger human connections.

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Ask More can help anyone become a better learner, leader, innovator, or citizen.
From the boardroom to the living room—and maybe even the White House
briefing room—if you’re looking for answers or inspiration, this book is for you.
It will give you a deeper understanding of how questions work and the best ways
to learn and succeed when you ask more.

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Wolf Blitzer

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