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

What’s one thing you want everyone to know about you?
If you could transport yourself anywhere in the world right now, go
to any country just to eat dinner, where would you go and what
would you eat?
Tagine in Morocco? Pho in Vietnam? Ugali in Kenya? Sounds amazing.
What does it taste like? How do they make it? Have you actually been there?
Now you’ve got everyone’s mouth watering and imaginations going and a
roomful of Anthony Bourdains!
By applying a little “conversation leadership” to get people interacting, you
can create an environment that is inclusive, interesting, and dynamic. You can
host over dinner or at the beach, at the game or in the office. A few well-placed
questions will jump-start a conversation. The more you ask, the more you get.
You decide what and how much you want to serve up.
The ingredients for this recipe are readily available and require just a little
preparation. Start with a few topics that you know interest everyone. Have a few
unexpected subjects you’ll mix in as you go. Mix it up with a few lighter, open-
ended questions. Listen closely.
Your friend just returned from southern Africa. It was her first time visiting
there. She saw the scenery, traveled to Robben Island, and visited Victoria Falls.
Your questions, like her travels, reflect different facets of the experience,

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different levels of awareness.
What did you see?
What surprised you?
How did it affect you?
Daria volunteers at a food bank and feels strongly about the new homeless
shelter the city wants to build. Some think it’s necessary but others believe it
will attract more homeless people. Ask Daria about her experience and what she
thinks about this issue that now divides the community.
What is our obligation to the homeless?
What about the neighbors?
What do the homeless people you know have to say about this?
John loves to camp in the Rockies. He once went for two weeks. Alone.
Why alone?
Any moose join you for dinner?
What do you think about in such solitude?
Ask for different levels of experience and awareness. Decide where and how
far you want to go. Start with an open-ended question, then ask about examples
and encourage stories. Make room for reflection, humor, and emotion.
Supper with Socrates
If you want to play the ultimate question game and challenge friends and family
to look for shadows on the wall of what they believe, invite Socrates to supper.
A philosopher and a teacher, his famous line of inquiry is as provocative today
as it was 2,400 years ago when he turned his questions on his students. You
won’t have to drink hemlock, but be prepared to challenge people to question
their knowledge and their assumptions, to the very core of what they believe.
The Socratic method uses questions to probe from all angles. It pokes at a
basic premise or value to force critical thinking and get to the root of an idea. It
often answers questions with a question in the search for knowledge or
understanding. The Socratic method challenges conventional wisdom. It seeks

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truth and meaning and holds every answer up to the light to ask “How do we
know?”
Having supper with Socrates is not for the faint of heart because Socrates
was relentless. He questioned his students’ basic assumptions and the very terms
of the discussion. He challenged their reasons behind their assumptions. He
asked them to consider different viewpoints, then asked where those viewpoints
came from and what they were based on. He took nothing for granted.
Socrates might have eagerly joined the conversation at Chris’s dinner party
when it turned to the political gridlock that afflicts Washington. One guest
groused about the glacial pace of government, noting that America will fall
further behind if it continues to move so slowly when the world moves so fast.
But then another guest observed that “slow” was baked into our system thanks to
our Founding Fathers and their checks and balances. Slow protects us from the
impetuous or from over-reaction. Yes, someone else said, but it also prevents us
from keeping up with the competition. Then other questions followed: Does
anyone really want “fast”? Is there a difference between “fast” and “efficient”?
Why can’t we be efficient?
If Socrates had been there, we might still be going. Hang on, he might have
said, let’s talk about “slow government.”