Warren Berger's Blog, page 11

Welcome to the “Age of Adaptability”

People who used to be comfortably ensconced in the role of “expert” didn’t have to question; they had the answers, they possessed the knowledge. But what happens when you live in a time when much of that knowledge is subject to constant change, revision, or even obsolescence? Well, then you can’t be a comfortable expert anymore—you must be a restless learner.

“Just look around for something that seems puzzling”

"How Can They Charge That? (And Other Questions)." Economics professor Robert H. Franks finds that questioning is a key tool in learning that sticks.

If not you, then who?

As I finish up writing A More Beautiful Question, one theme that comes up repeatedly is taking ownership of the big questions in our lives. Instead of merely voicing a classic complaint such as “Why doesn’t someone do something about this?” the redirect is to transform it into a challenge that you take on yourself. Read about how one executive took ownership of a question and ended up transforming many lives—including his own.

A place where the questions are baked-in

Questioning is central to everything CEO Ron Shaich does at Panera Bread. In fact, his new nonprofit initiative Panera Cares started with a beautiful question.

How do we connect? (And how do we disconnect?)

The filmmaker Tiffany Shlain explores the ways tech is changing us, and the questions we should be asking about that.

On the Question of “Mission Questions”

Is it time to hang a question mark on the end of the corporate mission statement? I think I'd rather work for a company that was striving to answer a big question, as opposed to one that claimed to have figured everything out.

Can questioning help us to keep up in ‘exponential times?’

A interesting talk with famed technologist, questioner, and ‘chief of confusion’ John Seely Brown.

Is knowing obsolete?

TED Prize winner Sugata Mitra is reframing the way we think about learning A couple of months ago, I stumbled across the work of Dr. Sugata Mitra, who has, for years, been conducting very interesting learning experiments in India. Perhaps you’ve heard his story of the “hole-in-the-wall computer,” which got some attention about a decade...

How do you get people to care about water?

The actor Matt Damon and Water.org try an unusual viral humor campaign to call attention to a crisis, while asking some good questions along the way.

What if everyone in the company could answer their own questions?

I recently asked Eric Ries about the role of questioning within the Lean Startup methodology, and found out when it's seen as a strength—and when it's seen as a weakness.