The Four Questions Great

Leaders Ask
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“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”

—Voltaire

Ever notice how great leaders ask the best questions?

A masterful leader will sit Yoda-like in a meeting, listening intently to the

dialogue and then, with Zen Master timing, ask a question that will change the
tenor, the focus and the performance of the entire team.

Impressive.

Seeing a seasoned leader ask questions is like watching a great musician or

athlete who just seems to know what note to play or what play to call. In my
opinion, this rare ability is the performance art of business.

I aspire to be this kind of leader and hope that with age and experience, I will
eventually have the wisdom and timing to use less oxygen and get greater
results.

(As my mother used to explain—often, I am afraid—God isn’t finished with me

yet.)

From my experience, many of the best questions revolve around the following
themes. My hope is that by asking these questions of yourself and your team,
you get the outcome you want and your people get the leadership they need.

Question 1: Is this urgent or essential?

Urgent matters have a way of getting in the way of the essential. For example,
you and your team checking emails first thing in the morning may feel
essential but in reality, it may not even be that important. There is a growing
school of thought—one that I endorse—that if you start each day by knocking
off one or two of the most essential things on your list (before the urgent
matters get in the way), you’ll be successful. As a leader, setting the context
around what’s super important versus what feels important at the time is a
great thing to question.

Question 2: What should you stop doing?

In order to have time to focus on the essential, you must eliminate the less
important and distracting activities that occupy your time. Does your team
have a “stop doing” list? Helping people become aware of what they might
stop doing first will allow them more time and energy to focus on the essential
“to-do” list.

Question 3: What makes you feel strongest?

Here’s a well-kept secret: Great leaders know what they suck at. More
important, they know how to find working partners with superhero powers
that disguise this suckiness through masterful delegation, thus giving them
time and energy to focus on their strengths. Just because you can manage a
project, drive the P&L, come up with the new marketing hook, and recruit
good people doesn’t mean you are passionate and, for that reason, have the
potential to be great at all of the above. If your friends or teammates think
they are good at everything, lack of awareness and/or humility will conspire to
keep them from being outstanding. Asking questions that help focus them on
their passions and strengths is a gift that keeps giving.

Question 4: What might we be missing?

Great leaders are open to the fact (and it is a fact) that they are missing
something—be it in new service offerings, make up of the senior leadership
team, or “simply” in the assumptions they are making about the competitive
environment. Pressing the team to consider what WE might be missing
demonstrates humility, awareness and openness to possibility. Wherever you
find an innovative culture, you find leaders asking this question.
Extra Credit
The way you ask questions is critically important. By starting questions with
“How to” or “I wish” and finishing them with the challenge that you can’t
figure out, e.g., “I wish I knew how to get this idea through our legal hurdles,”
you are modeling great leadership. Why? Because great leaders humbly share
their biggest challenges with their teams and ask them to help solve them.

I was interviewing a young person the other day. As our time together came to
a close she said, “You interview inexperienced but driven people like me all the
time. Would you mind sharing some of the questions that I should be asking
you that I am missing?”

Yoda would be pleased.