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

parts of the story were familiar. She worked two jobs, about sixty hours a week,
but neither provided health insurance.”
Teresa asked the patient where her insulin was coming from. Hesitantly, the
patient acknowledged that her father, retired military, was a diabetic, too. He got
his insulin through the Veterans Administration. The patient paused again,
looked down, and continued. They had been splitting it.
It was a shocking revelation, though Teresa had heard worse. Teresa spoke
slowly and directly, telling her patient about the importance of monitoring
herself and her diet, and the potentially deadly consequences of sharing her
father’s medication. She wrote a prescription and advised her patient how to get
insurance coverage so she could pay for it.
Teresa’s questions effectively identified symptoms and cause, allowing her
to plan the best treatment going forward. For now, at least, this young woman
and her father would get the medicine they needed to treat the disease they both
confronted.
Bad News Is Good News
If you’re going to be an effective diagnostic questioner, you have to embrace
something a lot of people would prefer to avoid: bad news. Nurse practitioners
like Teresa Gardner look for bad news. They collect information with one
purpose: to diagnose a problem so they can treat it. They need to know what’s
wrong. Reporters are drawn to bad news, too; that’s their job. If that plane went

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missing as a result of a security lapse or because the hydraulics failed, they want
to expose the problem and break the story. They look for power that’s been
abused, money that’s been wasted, and investments that are Ponzi schemes.
If you’re going to ask “What’s wrong?” then you have to embrace bad news.
It’s why Steve Miller, a renowned investor and corporate turnaround artist, was
in such demand and paid so much money over the past three decades. His book,
The Turnaround Kid: What I Learned Rescuing America’s Most Troubled
Companies, tells his story of looking for bad news. A veteran of the auto
industry, Miller can spot a wreck a mile away.
Why is this company in so much trouble?
Where do the problems originate?
What isn’t working?
Miller asks for the bad, and then tries to outsmart it. He listens for
explanations, not excuses. When a mutual friend offered to introduce us, I
eagerly accepted and booked a trip to New York City to see him.
Miller cut his turnaround-kid teeth alongside legendary Chrysler CEO Lee
Iacocca. Burdened by high labor costs, poor quality, and uninspiring design,
Chrysler faced extinction when superior Japanese imports began flooding the
American market. As Chrysler’s financial answer man, Miller helped put
together that historic federal bailout that saved the company. After a falling out
with the charismatic Iacocca, Miller left Chrysler and went looking for other
endangered corporate species. He helped rescue trash giant Waste Management.
He led Bethlehem Steel through bankruptcy. He salvaged what he could of auto-