Month: February 2018

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Inquiry: The Art and Benefits of Asking Good Questions

Always the beautiful answer/Who asks a more beautiful question.[i]

― e. e. cummings

Inquiry is a vastly under-appreciated skill, yet foundational for learning, problem solving, and relationship building. Good questions change lives and the course of history, and the resolution of big thorny problems requires them. Few are taught in their professional training to ask good questions. Journalists may be the rare exception.[ii]

Inquiry seeks to discover or learn what others think, know, want, or feel.

How can you foster better exchanges and relationships with important people in your life using inquiry? Fine-tune your inquiry skills to strengthen your capacity to lead?

The basic inquiry skill is knowing how to ask good questions. Good questions typically begin with words like how, why, or what. They go beyond requests for a yes or a no response. Instead they encourage people to think and talk: to provide information, describe and unpack their thinking, explore ideas, share their perspective, or consider new possibilities.

Good inquiry is necessary for testing ideas, seeking feedback, learning from others, and accurate situational diagnoses.

Tightly connected to good inquiry is active and attentive listening. The benefits of inquiry are lost if others see it as manipulative technique and not a route to your deeper understanding.

Edgar Schein introduces the concept of “humble inquiry,”[iii] defined as the fine art of asking others questions based on your curiosity and sincere interest in them. The purpose is to draw others out and into a closer and more trusting relationship. Schein sees humble inquiry as an investment of your time and attention to build foundations for effective teamwork – at work or home.

Inquiry is a habit of the mind that does not come easy to many, especially in a “tell” world that values experts who “already know.” Business organizations and “let’s get on with it” cultures often view questions as “inefficient” and the antithesis of action, task completion, and forward momentum, according to Clayton Christensen,[iv] an advocate of good questions as a way to foster disruptive innovation.

The culture of the charismatic extrovert – someone who speaks out and speaks up with clarity and drive – still dominates everyday beliefs about effective leadership; and more than a century after Dale Carnegie launched his first public speaking course at a New York City YMCA, his best-selling book How to Win Friends and Influence People is still a staple on airport bookshelves and business best-seller lists[v].

So how can you enhance your inquiry skills?

There are two places to start: (1) increase your use of questions, and (2) ask better questions. Where do you stand on each?

In our book, Engagement: Transforming Difficult Relationships at Work, Lee Bolman and I provide a tutorial on inquiry. You may want to try these recommendations from it:

Compare your advocacy and inquiry counts: Over the course of the next week, be mindful in your conversations with others about the balance between your advocacy (telling people something) and your inquiry (asking them a real question). Take time after a number of selected conversations to think about: How many questions did you ask the other vs. how many statements did you make? How often were questions real requests for information vs. rhetorical devices and advocacy in disguise? Tracking your ratio of advocacy and inquiry allows you to work on changing the balance.

Descriptive questions: Take as a goal for a day or a time period to avoid asking questions that evoke a yes or no answer. Substitute instead questions that begin with how, why, or what. How easy is that for you? How does that change the tenor of your conversations? Why do you think that is? What have you learned about others as a result?

Successful leadership is steeped in the search for information and learning – about others, the situation, and the best steps forward. How can improving your inquiry improve the impact of your efforts?

[i] e. e. cummings. Introduction to New Poems. Accessed December 12, 2015 at http://poems.writers-network.com/pdf/article-662.pdf

[ii] Warren Berger (2014). A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas. New York: Bloomsbury.

[iii] Edgar Schein (2013). Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

[iv] Clayton M. Christensen (2011). The Innovator’s Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business. New York: Harper Business.

[v] Susan Cain (2013). Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. New York: Broadway Books.

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Feed the Soul with Small Surprises: Sunrise on Corey Hill

I woke earlier than I wanted, and rolled over hoping for another few hours of sleep. It wasn’t going to happen, and I began to think about a thorny project that needed something new for forward movement. I got out of bed feeling tired, stuck, and annoyed.

I went to sleep the night before thinking about the issue, and asked my unconscious to work on fresh insights while I slept. That often works. Not today – and recognition of it was probably what woke me so completely in the early morning dark. I headed downstairs – and with an attitude – to feed the dog.

Instead, at the base of the stairs I impulsively grabbed boots, a coat long enough to cover my pajamas, and car keys. I leashed up the now-confused and still-sleepy old dog and headed to Corey Hill – the highest spot in the neighborhood – to watch the sun rise.

I expected solitude and a beautiful place to feel sorry for my tired and not-currently creative self. And then the surprises began.

I arrived at the small, hillside park in the urban core to find more than fifty runners in brightly-colored gear, depositing backpacks on the summit (probably containing dress clothes for subsequent jogs to work or school) and warmly greeting each other on a frigid winter morning. A few brought dogs and were letting them socialize in the off-leash park at the base of the hill. People were talking, laughing, digging out warmer hats or gloves for themselves or others, and stretching together. All-in-all it was a marvelous pre-dawn party.

As the sky turned a pinkish grey, the runners self-organized and small groups began to run together down the east side of the hill into the intensifying sunrise.

I walked to the center of the park and enjoyed the runners taking off into the emerging morning colors, the crescent moon still bright in the clear dawn sky, the gorgeous sun rising behind the tall Boston buildings in the distance, and the widening glow of pink that grew out of the sun sphere and surprisingly spread out and across the entire horizon surrounding me as if in a 360 degree hot pink embrace.

It was a big, spectacular sunrise. And it was made even more beautiful by happenings on the ground and reminders that we are never alone even in our darkest hours.

The world may seem cold, but it is always filled with warm communities of shared interest, the energy of accomplishment, new hills to navigate, the vitality of youth – many were runners in their 20’s and 30’s, love and friendship, and the ability of the human spirit to conquer the cold and dark with a smile, a buddy, and a stride forward. We just have to find what we need – and if we let ourselves, we may even find it by happenstance.

I found unexpected beauty on Corey Hill – but I was cold. I forgot gloves. So, I drove slowly down the hill, as the runners were heading back up, and stopped at a coffee shop. Alone in the shop with the barista, we talked. He told me about walking to work in the dark and how bright the stars and moon were – the clear skies probably why it was so darn cold. He had just moved into the neighborhood, as have I, from my former neighborhood – and we spoke about that. I told him about Corey Park, and he responded: “Oh, I’m stuck here in the mornings. Tell me all about the sunrise there.” And over my cappuccino with cinnamon and ricotta cheese cake, I passed along descriptions of the sunrise, the runners and dogs, and small surprises – and we were both fueled in new ways to better embrace our days.

Leadership is demanding business, and successful leaders have strategies to sustain vitality and resolve. They feed body and soul.

In a book that I co-authored[i], we propose strategies to nourish and strengthen leaders. One set of recommendations is to give deliberate attention to five key areas – we call them the 5 B’s:

1. Managing boundaries between self and others, between your life and your work

2. Attending to your body in ways that maintain basic good health

3. Bringing balance among work, friends and family, and leisure

4. Finding activities that feed the soul, like the beauty and recuperative power of the arts and nature

5. Increasing the odds that you’ll bounce back from stress and challenge through resilience training.

How can you bring more of the 5 B’s into your life? What greatness could you accomplish with a little extra clarity, strength, vigor, and bounce?

[i] Lee G. Bolman and Joan V. Gallos (2011). Reframing Academic Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley, Chapters 8-13.

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Leading in a Global World Requires Global Eyes and Heart: Let Theater Be Your Guide

There’s nothing like live theater for learning about ourselves and life’s complexities.

It lets us walk in another’s shoes and immerse ourselves in new ways of thinking and being!  We listen, observe, and witness – and experience one of the few times when we significantly engage with others who speak directly to us that we do not talk or set our minds to work preparing responses to what they say before they even finish speaking. Theater slows life down and encourages us to study our reactions to it.

Quite simply, theater traffics in human understanding – and understanding one’s internal and external worlds is at the heart of leadership effectiveness. 

The major challenges in leading – understanding and working with those who are different from us, seeing situations through another’s eyes or different lenses, forging shared interests and common goals, motivating, influencing while remaining open to new learning, understanding the roots of competing interests and conflicts, finding lasting solutions to complex problems – echo life’s larger challenges.

Different cultures, ethnicities, upbringings, experiences, and social traditions can separate us. But broadening our perspectives and minds takes us to rich, new heights and toward common ground despite our differences. Theater lays out these grand dilemmas in accessible form and invites us to watch, reflect, and learn from them. I’ve been reminded of this by a recent event.

clip_image002I saw “Hear Word! Naija Woman Talk True” – Ifeoma Fafunwa’s beautiful, honest, high-energy production about the complex intersections among gender, culture, abuse, and inequity in Nigeria; and had opportunity to engage with the playwright post-performance. What powerful learning for today’s fast-paced, global world!

The show has been a phenomenon in Nigeria, playing to sold-out crowds in theaters, as well as standing-room-only, pop-up performances in markets, city squares, and other public places. It stars ten famous Nigerian stage and screen actresses, and is having its first full run in the U.S. at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

No question, the production is artistically magical, the cast and musicians superb, and the playwright a courageous and visionary leader in bringing cultural secrets to the light of day. This is an experience you won’t want to miss!

clip_image004Given the show’s subject matter and the added wallop of  “Nollywood” stars as messengers – think about the role of Hollywood women in the U.S. #MeToo and #TimesUp movements – it is a major intervention for social justice and women’s empowerment in Nigeria and beyond. 

The subject of women’s abuse and inequity is raw and rings brutally true in the production. The script is based on interviews with women in Nigeria across age, socio-economic class, place, and social circumstances and is a strategic series of song and dance-infused vignettes in the spirit of Anna Deavere Smith’s ethnographically-based work. The production (especially act 1) takes the audience, in the words of WGBH’s Jared Bowen, “right into the heart of abuse." There is pain for sure. But there is also great hope in bearing witness to the enduring spirit, fearlessness, defiance, and authenticity of women claiming voice, power, and personal agency: let change begin with me – a reminder to everyday leaders of their job to make the world a better place in whatever ways they can!

Leading in a global world requires global eyes and heart: the ability to understand and accept diverse cultures, see differences as the springboard to innovation, and work with grace and sensitivities when others hold values and beliefs far different from our own.

In today’s world, management educators and authors do leaders-in-training a disservice when they forget that or convey the illusion of simplicity or control with models and theories that portray work and life as linear, rational, neat, and tidy. Human nature is complicated, and social processes like leadership and management are steeped in ambiguity, confusion, competing values, and choice. Good theater acknowledges that and plays out human nature in its messy fullness. Let our understandings of leadership embrace the same.

Internal struggles, confusion, ambiguity, and doubts of the soul are all par for the course – and recognizing that enables us to summon the courage and persistence to stay the course. Real leadership looks more like the gritty and human process that it is – and less glamorous and heroic – when seen through the difficult choices and challenges of compelling characters, like the women in “Hear Word! Naija Woman Talk True”.

Life is not always fair nor power and resources equally distributed, and there is much work – globally and locally, personally and organizationally – to do. That’s why we need leaders fully prepared for the road ahead and able to embrace an increasingly diverse world without fear of loss!

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Springsteen on leadership: We were all born to run

I’m a Jersey girl by birth who loves the music and the poetry in the lyrics of Bruce Springsteen.

“Long Walk Home” is a soul’s call to embrace roots and hope – integrate one’s past into a mindful present for a bright future. “Dancing in the Dark,” disco-like in its magic, screams agency and activism: “you can’t start a fire worrying about your little world falling apart.” And if you can listen to “Secret Garden” – and the late Clarence Clemons’s sax solo – without feeling the human need for connection, well … Even before making it into the “Jerry Maguire” soundtrack, that song had me at hello.  [Hyperlinks for your listening pleasure!]

Recently, clip_image003I’ve come to appreciate Springsteen’s lessons for leadership, discovered while seeing him up-close and personal in the New York Times-acclaimed “Springsteen on Broadway.” I subsequently read his autobiography, “Born to Run,” to learn more.

Springsteen is smart, articulate, and self-reflective in the best sense; and he offers rare insights into creativity, career success, and high-impact leadership in a volatile and fickle industry. His wisdom speaks powerful truths to all who want to lead and succeed in today’s crazy, competitive world.

The Boss has much to teach!  Let me focus here on two of his “clean aces” – two ways of thinking and being that can elevate your leadership when brought more deliberately into your life and work: authenticity and persistence fueled by hard work and proactive learning.

Authenticity:  Authentic leaders know who they are – their strengths, limitations, and values – and are not afraid to show it. They understand their emotions and motivations, and draw on both to communicate with integrity. Bolman and Deal got it right: the heart of leadership lies in the heart of the leader. [1]

Springsteen is a clear product of his working class New Jersey roots, Catholic upbringing, and dysfunctional family. Tempted to run from early life pain, he instead dove deep and learned things vital and universal about himself and human nature – both of which became cornerstones of his music and success. clip_image001

“Music that emotionally described a life I recognized, my life, the life of my family and neighbors. Here was where I wanted to make my stand musically and search for my own questions and answers”, says Springsteen. “I didn’t want out. I wanted in. I didn’t want to erase, escape, forget, or reject. I wanted to understand. What were the social forces that held my parents’ lives in check? Why was it so hard? The piece of me that lived in the working-class neighborhoods of my hometown was an essential and permanent part of who I was. No one you have been and no place you have gone ever leaves you” [p. 264].[2]

Springsteen believed audiences would resonate with music that spoke truth – that reminded them of “something they know” and could “feel it deep in their gut” [p. 236]. He would use his authentic self as the conduit to deep connection with others – and career success.

“I wanted my music grounded in my life, in the life of my family, and in the blood and lives of the people I’ve known,” he stated. “I’ve learned you’ve got to pull up the things that mean something to you in order for them to mean anything to your audience” [p. 267].

For that kind of deep connection to happen night after night, Springsteen needed talented others who could – and would – consistently bring the same authenticity and soul.

“There is a love and respect at the center of everything we do together,” he asserted. “It’s not just business, it’s personal. When you came to work with me, I had to be assured you’d bring your heart. Heart sealed the deal” [p. 217].

He became The Boss – a name he does not cherish – by demanding soul, not technique or flash. Everyone who worked with him needed to be clear about his mission, values, decision making rules, and standards of excellence. He developed and has held firm over his career to what he calls a guiding philosophy – an intentional code of conduct – that weds the personal and the professional. Being great for Springsteen is all about integrity, love, service, and an honest relationship with his followers.

“We [Springsteen and his E Street Band] are more than an idea, an aesthetic. We are a philosophy, a collective, with a professional code of honor. It is based on the principle that we bring our best, everything we have, on this night, to remind you of everything you have, your best. That it’s a privilege to exchange smiles, soul, and heart directly with the people in front of you … to apply your trade humbly as a piece of a long, spirited chain you’re thankful to be a small link in” [p. 217].

Springsteen also understood the competitive industry advantage of authenticity and how it would keep his brand fresh and evolving.

“I’d seen other great musicians lose their way and watch their music and art become anemic, rootless, displaced when they seemed to lose touch with who they were. My music would be a music of identity, a search for meaning and the future” [p. 265].

What’s your authenticity quotient? How can you bring more of your true self into your leadership? Where would you start? What are the benefits for you? For your organization?

Persistence fueled by hard work and proactive learning:  Springsteen made a vow to improve his craft every day from the moment he picked up his first, cheap, childhood guitar; and his self-improvement work continues, driven by an unwavering commitment to hard work and continuous learning.

“I was interested in doing my job better and being great. Not good … great. Whatever that took, I was in,” said Springsteen. “If you have the talent, then will, ambition and the determination to expose yourself to new thoughts, counterargument, new influence, will strengthen and fortify your work” [p. 215].

His autobiography charts a complex and continuous path of learning, musical directions, investments, dead-ends, and discoveries. Through it all, Springsteen held no illusions. Success required being “very aggressive, very proactive about what you want” [p. 231], having resolute focus on the ultimate prize, and working hard to augment creativity and “deepen truth” [p. 214].

“I was not a natural genius,” Springsteen said he realized early in his career. “I would have to use every ounce of what was in me – my cunning, my musical skills, my showmanship, my intellect, my heart, my willingness – night after night, to push myself harder, to work with more intensity than the next guy just to survive untended in the world I lived in” [p. 138].

His persistence was fueled by a “passion” for high-impact and work ethic of “no wasted days or nights” [p. 115] – every failure has the potential for deep learning. Springsteen knew he had to “stay hungry” and “divest” of all unnecessary distractions to find “my adult voice” [p. 267]. He also made necessary sacrifices. Springsteen, for example, avoided alcohol and drugs when both were normative and readily available in the music scene – and he cut precious ties with those without that discipline. Nothing was going to come between him and making great music for as long as he wanted.

“The rock death cult is well loved and chronicled in literature and music,” he said. “The exit in a blaze of glory is bullshit. Now, if you’re not one of the handfuls of musical revolutionaries – and I was not – you naturally set your sight on something different. In a transient field, I was suited for the long haul. I had years of study behind me, I was physically built to endure, and by disposition was not an edge dweller. I was interested in what I might accomplish over a lifetime of music making” [p.214].

What do you hope to accomplish over a lifetime of opportunities? What’s your passion? What must you learn and do to lead to the full potential of your talents?

[1] L. G. Bolman and T. E. Deal (2011). Leading with Soul. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

[2] Page numbers appearing in brackets are from B. Springsteen (2016). Born to Run. New York: Simon & Schuster.