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

particular problem that’s defined by a unique set of symptoms or circumstances.
Strategic questions ask about the bigger challenge and the long-term goal—
about stakes, opportunities, costs, consequences, and alternatives—as you focus
on the big picture. They help you set your sights, clarify objectives, and consider
obstacles as you think about future benefits and consequences.
Set Your Sights
Perhaps you’ve been invited to join a startup venture. You like the people. They
have a couple of years of funding. The business plan is exciting. There could be
a big payoff. But the idea is untested and the competition is moving fast. You’ll
have to leave your corporate job, and there’s no job security in the startup world.
Maybe your partner is lobbying for a move across the country to get out of
the rat race and reboot your lives. The idea has appeal. But you’re not sure what
you will do out there, or how much of a real difference the move will make.
Truth is, you’re not loving life right now either, but this would be a quantum
leap into the unknown. Will the change be worth the effort? And what about that
paycheck you now get reliably every two weeks?
Your company is considering a major investment in a product that it believes
will increase market share. You have to weigh in. Something is needed because
the competition is eating your lunch and just launched a brilliant ad campaign
that brought it a ton of buzz. Maybe the new product will make a difference, but
it will require a huge investment, a lot of your time, and a big marketing push. It
seems pretty cool, but there’s no guarantee it will be the blockbuster you need.
These are all-in moves that come with a daunting list of pros and cons and
plenty of unknowns. They call for fundamental changes and new ways of
thinking. They require questions that look over the horizon.
“Strategy, by definition, is about making complex decisions under
uncertainty, with substantive, long-term consequences,” Freek Vermeulen,
associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the London Business
School, wrote in the Harvard Business Review in September 2015. Vermeulen
crafted an elegantly simple description of a word that almost everyone overuses
and poorly understands. But by asking strategic questions, you can define and
articulate your long-term goals. As you challenge your assumptions, you weigh
the investment and risks involved. These are tough questions, built on a few
overarching principles. Like an imaging satellite miles above the earth, strategic

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questions start wide and zoom in to see the landscape in detail.
Get the big picture. Define the challenge or opportunity. Ask why it matters.
Articulate the goal. Does it reflect your values? Who else cares? What are others
prepared to do? What does it look like from 60,000 feet?
Know what you’re up against. Recognize that you have a worthy opponent,
whether it’s a person, place, or, in the Gates’s case, a disease. Give it credit. It’s
the biggest obstacle that stands in your way. Ask what your opponent can dish
out and what you’re willing to take.
Define your plan. Determine the tactics that will help you achieve your strategic
goal. What are the next steps and the steps down the road? Who does what? And
how will you measure success along the way? Know that tactics may change
even as your strategic interests remain constant.
Challenge yourself. Hold your plan or proposal up to the light and look for holes.
Play out different scenarios. What haven’t you thought of? What can go wrong?
Can you explain and defend the strategy with facts, or is emotion driving you?
Force yourself to stop and ask about options and alternatives.
Define success. Can you explain what success looks like? How will you know it
when you achieve it? What will it take and at what cost?
A Strategic Approach
Before the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation committed time and resources to
the global fight against malaria, it posed a set of demanding questions to assess
the dimension of the challenge. The foundation had published the “Strategy
Lifecycle” as a sort of handbook of strategic questioning. The guide could serve
as a template for just about any big decision, or campaign.
The Strategy Lifecycle posed a series of questions organized in three phases:
Lookback and Scoping, Strategy Choice, and Execution Plan. “Look Back” and
“Scoping” questions sought to learn from previous experiences and to define the
history and dimensions of the issue.
What are the lessons from prior strategies and implications for our

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future work?
What is the nature of the problem?
What are the most promising ways to address the problem?
Strategy Choice questions got specific, tied directly to the challenge and
what was needed to accomplish the mission.
How do we think change will happen?
What will we do and not do? Why? What are the trade-offs?
What is the role of our partners?
What are the financial requirements?
How will we measure our results?
What are the risks?
The answers to these questions helped set the parameters of the undertaking,
and they exposed the risks. The team then asked how and what it would take to
achieve the defined goals.
What is the timing and sequencing of initiatives?
What resources are needed?
The foundation’s strategic questions helped clarify decision-making and
provide coherence to a campaign that pitted ambitious ideas against a formidable
foe. The Gates Foundation launched its campaign and became a transformational
leader in the fight against malaria. It spent billions of dollars to create new