A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas

by Warren Berger

Changing tracks in a career is a form of innovation, on a personal level—and requires the same kind of rigorous inquiry that a business should undertake in pursuing a new direction or strategy. What’s required is not just a onetime adaptation; more likely, we’ll all have to be adept at continually changing tracks as we move forward.

When the world moved at a slower pace and things weren’t quite so complex, we spent the early part of life in learning mode. Then, once you became an adult, “you figured out what your job was and you repeated the same thing over and over again for the rest of your life.” Today, Ito explains, because of constant change and increased complexity, that rinse-and-repeat approach in adult life no longer works as well.

As expertise loses its “shelf life,” it also loses some of its value. If we think of “questions” and “answers” as stocks on the market, then we could say that, in this current environment, questions are rising in value while answers are declining. “Right now, knowledge is a commodity,”25 says the Harvard education expert Tony Wagner. “Known answers are everywhere, and easily accessible.”

Here’s why I believe learning about thinking models and communication is far more important than memorizing what I now call trivia. Computers can memorize and organize information better, but our brains can synthesize information in a way that’s more useful to human beings. The question is, at what point do human beings become less important than computers? Or at what point is it more important that computers get what they want, when they want it? Are we working for computers or are they working for us still, or are they working for some of us?

Because we’re drowning in all of this data, “the value of explicit information is dropping,”

The real value, Bottino added, is in “what you can do with that knowledge, in pursuit of a query.”

as there is more and more to know, more than we can possibly keep up with—the amount that the individual knows, in relation to the growing body of knowledge, is smaller.

The good news, Firestein notes, is that there is more ignorance for us to explore.

There are more “collectively known” things that we, as individuals, can learn about and a vast expanse of unknown things we could, potentially, discover. Overall, there’s more darkness into which we can shine that “question flashlight.”

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Everywhere we turn, there’s something to wonder and inquire about. MIT’s Joi Ito says that as we try to come to terms with a new reality that requires us to be lifelong learners (instead of just early-life learners), we must try to maintain or rekindle the curiosity, sense of wonder, inclination to try new things, and ability to adapt and absorb that served us so well in childhood. We must become, in a word, neotenous (neoteny being a biological term that describes the retention of childlike attributes in adulthood).

Things are changing so fast, Brown told me, “I have to reframe how I even think about using all of this technology. I find myself asking all kinds of fundamental questions. And as I do that, I eventually realize that the lenses I’m looking through to see the world around me are wrong—and that I have to construct a whole new frame of reference.”

The problem is not just rapid change—it’s also the sheer volume of information rushing at us from all directions and many sources. Without a filtering device, we can’t separate what’s relevant or reliable from what’s not. When we’re overloaded with information, “context becomes critical,” Brown says. “What matters now is your ability to triangulate, to look at something from multiple sources, and construct your own warrants for what you choose to believe.” That can involve “asking all kinds of peripheral questions,” Brown notes, such as What is the agenda behind this information? How current is it? How does it connect with other information I’m finding?

“Our new civic and professional life is all about doubt. About questioning the status quo, questioning marketing or political claims, and most of all questioning what’s next.”

“the ability to evaluate risk, recognize demagoguery, the ability to question not only other people’s views, but one’s own assumptions.” The more we’re deluged with information, with “facts” (which may or may not be), views, appeals, offers, and choices, then the more we must be able to sift and sort and decode and make sense of it all through rigorous inquiry.

Can technology help us ask better questions? For the most part, it is better suited to responding to questions—not so good at asking them.

eventually, all doctors—and all the rest of us, as well—will have access to some form of cloud-based super-search-engine that can quickly answer almost any factual question with a level of precision and expertise that’s way beyond what we have now. Which reinforces that the value of questions is going to keep rising as that of answers keeps falling.

technology will have the answers covered—so we will no longer need to fill our heads with those answers as much as we once did, bringing to mind a classic Einstein story. A reporter doing an interview concludes33 by asking Einstein for his phone number, and Einstein reaches for a nearby phone book. While Einstein is looking up his own number in the book, the reporter asks why such a smart man can’t remember it. Einstein explains that there’s no reason to fill his mind with information that can so easily be looked up.

But if we can’t compete with technology when it comes to storing answers, questioning—that uniquely human capacity—is our ace in the hole.

By tapping into social networks, online sources of information, and digital communities, it is increasingly feasible, MIT’s Ito points out, for an individual to tackle a large challenge or question, or to launch an initiative or movement. One can do so relatively quickly by “pulling resources—answers, expert advice, partners, sources of funding, influence—from the network as you need it.” However, “the main way you pull support from the network is by querying it. And you need to understand how to frame the questions to get the best response.”

it is so much easier now to begin a journey of inquiry, with so many places you can turn for information, help, ideas, feedback, or even to find possible collaborators who might be interested in the same question.

“If you don’t have that disposition to question,” Brown says, “you’re going to fear change. But if you’re comfortable questioning, experimenting, connecting things—then change is something that becomes an adventure. And if you can see it as an adventure, then you’re off and running.”

Innovative questioners, when faced with situations that are less than ideal, inquire as to why, trying to figure out what’s lacking.

We get these breakthroughs, Pogue writes, “when someone looks at the way things36 have always been done and asks why?”

And the phenomenon isn't limited to business innovation and invention stories; asking Why can be the first step to bringing about change in almost any context. Gretchen Rubin showed how a simple37 Why question could be applied to one’s everyday life—and be the spark that leads to dramatic change.

One rainy day, looking out the window of a New York City bus, Rubin pondered, Why am I not happy with my life as it is? This question got her thinking about the nature of happiness, then researching that, then applying what she lea...

We can and should ask Why about career, family relationships, local community issues—anywhere we might encounter a situation that is ripe for change and improvement.

Sometimes questioners go out looking for their Why—searching for a question they can work on and answer. The term problem-finding is used to describe this pursuit, and while it may seem odd to go looking for problems, according to the business consultant Min Basadur38—who teaches problem-finding skills to executives at top companies—it’s one of the most important things to do for an established business, large or small. As Basadur notes, if you are able to “find” a problem before others do, and then successfully answer the questions surrounding that problem, you can create a new venture, a new career, a new industry.

Q (questioning) + A (action) = I (innovation). On the other hand, Q – A = P (philosophy). In observing how questioners tackle problems, I noticed a pattern in many of the stories: • Person encounters a situation that is less than ideal; asks Why. • Person begins to come up with ideas for possible improvements/solutions—with such ideas usually surfacing in the form of What If possibilities. • Person takes one of those possibilities and tries to implement it or make it real; this mostly involves figuring out How.

current theories of “design thinking,”40 used by IDEO and other leading designers to systematically solve problems, have laid out a process that starts with framing a problem and learning more about it (similar to my Why stage), then proceeds to generating ideas (which corresponds to What If), and eventually builds upon those ideas through prototyping (which could be thought of as the How stage). A similar progression—moving from understanding a problem, to imagining possible solutions, to then going to work on those possibilities—can also be seen in the creative problem-solving processes of the business consultant Min Basadur (who, in turn, owes a debt to earlier processes developed by the little-known but legendary Creative Problem Solving Institute of Buffalo, New York). Echoes of this are even in the classic four-stage process of creativity—Preparation/Incubation/Illumination/Implementation—developed nearly a century ago by the British psychologist Graham Wallas.

A journey of inquiry is bound to lead you into the unknown (as it should), but if you have a sense of the kinds of questions to ask at various stages along the way, you’ve at least got some road markers. Indeed, this is the beauty of “process” in general: It may not provide any answers or solutions, but, as one design-thinker told me, having a process helps you to keep taking next steps—so that, as he put it, “even when you don’t know what41 you’re doing, you still know what to do.”

“My reaction to that was ‘I’m not going to pollute my mind with everyone else’s ideas. I’m following my own path, not somebody else’s.’”

“If you give the mind time and space, it will do its own work on the problem, over time,” he said. “And it will usually come up with interesting possibilities to work with.” Gradually, those possibilities began to surface in Phillips’s mind. At the What If stage the imagination begins to go to work, whether we’re conscious of it or not. The mind, if preoccupied with a problem or question long enough, will tend to come up with possibilities that might eventually lead to answers, but at this stage are still speculations, untested hypotheses, and early epiphanies.

Today, the idea of “sitting with” and “living with” a question may seem strange, as we’ve gotten used to having our queries answered quickly and in bite-size servings.

Often the worst thing you can do with a difficult question is to try to answer it too quickly. When the mind is coming up with What If possibilities, these fresh, new ideas can take time to percolate and form.

Einstein was an early believer in this form of “combinatorial thinking”; today it is widely accepted as one of the primary sources of creativity. Since this type of thinking involves both connections and questions, I think of it as connective inquiry.

What If possibilities are powerful things; they are the seeds of innovation. But you do not get from idea to reality in one leap, even if you’ve got spring-force dynamics on your side. What sets apart the innovative questioners is their ability—mostly born out of persistence and determination—to give form to their ideas and make them real. This is the final, and critical, How stage of inquiry—when you’ve asked all the Whys, considered the What Ifs . . . and must now figure out, How do I actually get this done? It’s the action stage, yet it is still driven by questions, albeit more practical ones.

Today, most of us are in a better position to build on our ideas and questions than ever before. We can use computer sketch programs, create YouTube videos of what we’re doing, set up beta websites, tap into social networks for help—or even launch a Kickstarter project to fund our efforts to solve a problem or create something new.

“the reason kids ask ‘why’ over and over again is often because we don’t understand their questions, or we’re just not listening. And by asking over and over, they’re saying to us, in effect, ‘You are not hearing me—you’re not understanding what I’m asking.’”

“My concern is with how students become critical thinkers and problem solvers, which is what a democratic society needs.”

Evidence: How do we know what’s true or false? What evidence counts?

Viewpoint: How might this look if we stepped into other shoes, or looked at it from a different direction?

Connection: Is there a pattern? Have we seen something like this before?

Conjecture: What if it were different?

Relevance: Why does this matter?

Before settling on her five habits of mind, Meier started with two particular ways of thinking she wanted to emphasize—skepticism and empathy. “I believe you have to have an open-mindedness to the possibility that you’re wrong, or that anything may be wrong,” she said. “I’ve always been very concerned with democracy. If you can’t imagine you could be wrong, what’s the point of democracy? And if you can’t imagine how or why others think differently, then how could you tolerate democracy?”

Montessori is private, expensive, and exclusive; so are some of the other inquiry-based schools, and those that are public are few and far between. In terms of schools offering this approach, “we’re probably talking about less than one percent of the overall school system,” Goyal points out.

At one point in my talk with her, I mentioned that today’s business culture—with its ad messages promoting “break the rules” and “think different” messages—seems to embrace the same independent-thinking ethos

“Fear is the enemy of curiosity. Unfortunately, if you’re in that situation, you may feel pressure to look a certain way to others.”

“the way you ask a question yields different results and can lead you in different directions.”

to question effectively, they must learn how to analyze their own questions and zero in on ones they would like to pursue further.

those who don’t know how to ask the right questions are vulnerable to being denied that which they might need or are entitled to have.