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cover of episode #26 Warren Berger: Improving The Questions You Ask

#26 Warren Berger: Improving The Questions You Ask

2017/12/14
logo of podcast The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish
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Shane Parrish
创始人和CEO，专注于网络安全、投资和知识分享。
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Warren Berger
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Shane Parrish: 好的问题能够促进创新、解决问题和进步，但很多领导者认为提问效率低下，甚至会带来职业风险。 Warren Berger: 作者职业生涯的转变是跟随兴趣和实用性，从商业记者到广告设计，最终专注于提问和探究。自由撰稿记者的现状好坏参半，机会增多但内容价值被低估。互联网信息过载阻碍创造力，需要将一天分成线上和线下部分，创造“创作模式”来避免“反应模式”。最佳创作时间因人而异，需要根据个人生物节律找到最适合自己的时间。创造不被打扰的时间段非常重要，这与Paul Graham的“创造者时间表”理论相符。克服注意力分散的方法是短暂休息后重新投入工作，坚持下去才能突破瓶颈。作者的默认状态是说“yes”，但会预留出固定的、不可被打扰的时间段。作者后悔说“yes”的情况多发生在活动与预期不符时，因此他会更加谨慎地评估活动。作者阅读速度较慢，更注重理解和思考，而非阅读数量。作者收集信息和整理笔记的方式是打印资料，建立纸质档案，并手工制作大纲。作者更倾向于在纸上进行头脑风暴和结构性思考，需要将所有信息同时呈现在眼前。最近观看肯·伯恩斯的《越南战争》和阅读《Getting Schooled》改变了作者对越南战争和教师的理解。作者会停止阅读质量不好的内容。作者认为，制作大纲和散步是对他帮助最大的小习惯。户外散步更有利于激发创造力，因为它能提供适度的刺激和不被打扰的环境。博物馆是激发灵感的场所，因为它能提供适度的刺激和思考空间。随着年龄增长，创造力和好奇心会下降，这可能是生物学和文化因素共同作用的结果。创造力和提问能力的下降，是生物学因素、奖励机制、文化观念和知识积累等多种因素共同作用的结果。在职场中，提问常常被认为是低效的，甚至会影响职业发展，这与人们对知识的既有认知有关。提问能够帮助我们应对未知，而对未知的认知和关注是提问的基础。创新者利用提问来探索未知领域，并不断调整和完善问题。好的提问是一种元技能，它能提升其他技能，而提问的质量取决于提问者的知识储备和视角。要鼓励提问，需要营造一种文化氛围，让提问者和被提问者都能理解提问的价值。父母和老师应该鼓励孩子提问，并引导他们自主探索答案，而非直接提供答案。创新者会主动承担问题，并积极探索解决方案。作者的挑战在于，在回答问题时，倾向于给出明确的答案，而不是与提问者一起探索问题。“协作式探究”能够促进团队成员共同努力解决问题，公司应该用“我们如何才能……”这样的问题来代替使命宣言。一些公司开始尝试用“使命问题”代替使命宣言，员工普遍对此持积极态度。作者年轻时受到姐姐的影响，成年后则受到采访对象的影响。作者将《Glimmer》一书的失败转化为《A More Beautiful Question》一书的成功，这其中包含了反思和重新定位的过程。面对失败，需要时间来消化和反思，而“失败是好事”的说法并不完全现实。作者不认同将创意工作与其他工作割裂开来，认为每个人都有创造力。作者认为开放式办公模式被过度推崇，应该寻求开放空间和封闭空间的平衡。

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The episode introduces Warren Berger, a journalist and author, discussing the importance of asking better questions to innovate, solve problems, and progress in life.

Shownotes Transcript

The quality of your outcome depends on the quality of your questions. Through asking the right questions we can spark innovation and creativity, gain deeper knowledge in the topics that are most important to us, and propel us forward in our personal and professional pursuits.

Yet very few of us do it well — if we do it at all.

My guest on the podcast today is Warren Berger — journalist, speaker, best selling author, and self-proclaimed questionologist.

His insightful book *A More Beautiful Question*) shows how the world’s leading innovators, education leaders, creative thinkers, and red-hot start-ups ask game-changing questions to nurture creativity, solve problems, and create new possibilities.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of asking the right questions, why they’re critical to your success, and how you may be one great question away from a major breakthrough.

You’ll also learn:

How Warren manages the constant input and stimulation from online consumption when it’s time to create. The small habits that pack the biggest punch and make the most difference in Warren’s life What makes a question more or less effective How to create a culture where questions are welcome and encouraged Why answering all your kids’ questions may be doing them a disservice — and what to do instead What “collaborative inquiry” is and how to use it to get the most out of your teams in the workplace How Warren transformed one of his most painful failures into one of his most proud achievements Why Warren insists that everyone is creative, and what we can do to fan the flames of our own creativity

If you think you could improve the quality (and frequency) of your questions to enhance key areas of your life, this is not a conversation you’ll want to miss.

 

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Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish)