Innovation seems to be a buzzword but what does it really mean? How can we understand innovation as the product of great questions? Questioning has been found to be at the heart of innovation. As we speed through the beginning of the year, The Right Question Institute has been considering the power of questions as they cultivate spaces of innovation. As a part our latest innovation initiative, we are hoping to expand our work into professional development in business settings by teaching how questions foster innovative thinking and collaborative work environments.
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Though seemingly a heady topic, innovation is simpler than it may seem. In an article by Shane Parrish of the Farnam Street blog, he dispels 7 myths of innovation as illuminated by Amanda Lang’s The Power of Why. Parrish projects: “The main difference between innovators and the rest of us is that innovators ask more and better questions and they are more driven to find answers and embrace them, even if the answers are first not what they wanted or expected to find."
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Paul Sloane, the founder of Destination Innovation, cites asking questions as the “single most important habit for innovative thinkers.” He suggests, “Try to practice asking more questions in your everyday conversations. Instead of telling someone something, ask them a question. Intelligent questions stimulate, provoke, inform and inspire. Questions help us to teach as well as to learn.”
“Questioning—deeply, imaginatively, “beautifully”—can help us identify and solve problems, come up with game-changing ideas, and pursue fresh opportunities.”
-Warren Berger
Author and innovation thought leader, Warren Berger has recently released his latest book on art of asking good questions as a tool for fresh thinking titled, A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas. During his research he visited the Right Question Institute and we are honored he has featured our work and method in his latest publication. Below are a series of interviews and articles documenting both the work of A More Beautiful Question and Berger’s time with Right Question Institute.
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In an interview with Inc. Magazine, Berger offers questions as critical for innovation and leadership development. He states: “A beautiful question reframes an issue and forces you to look at it in a different way. It challenges assumptions and is really ambitious.”
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Berger reminds us, over at 250 Words, an business book blog. He describes that we can lose our inherent nature of asking questions stating, “...it’s important to note that we are born questioners...we’re asking a lot of questions, many of them quite good.” He adds, “we already have the questioning skill but it may have atrophied, like a muscle that hasn’t been used enough. So to get better at questioning, you must question more.”
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Over at Huffington Post, Berger illustrates obstacles for asking questions in business. He notes: “Because we have an education and business culture that tends to reward quick factual answers over imaginative inquiry….In both classrooms and workplaces, questioning may be seen as a challenge to authority. And it can be perceived as a sign of weakness -- an indication that one "doesn't know."
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At The Roundtable on WAMC Northeast Public Radio, Berger gives an interview on education can better utilize students questions. Listen to the complete broadcast here.
A More Beautiful Question is available now, order your copy here.
Right Question Institute staff with Innovator's DNA co-author and INSEAD Professor, Hal Gregersen.
In other news: Hal Gregersen (pictured above), founder of 424 Project and RQI recently had a great conversation about the potential of questions to have a tremendous impact on organizations from entry-level to the C-suite. RQI was also paid a quick visit by Fast Company co-founder and founding editor, William Taylor in preparation for his upcoming book on success and questions.
As we see innovation on the rise, in business and education, questions remain as a vital key in those processes. For more information on how to bring our innovation initiative to your business or organization sign up here. And for frequent updates on our other services and events follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.