“The first thing most leaders need to realize is, they’re really bad at asking questions.” That shouldn’t be surprising. Patnaik notes that most business execs rose up through the ranks because “they were good at giving answers. But it means they’ve had little experience at formulating questions.” The questions they are accustomed to asking are more practical and interrogative: How much is this going to cost us? Who’s responsible for this problem? How are the numbers looking? (Or, to cite one of Patnaik’s favorite dumb questions, What’s our version of the iPad?)
