Leadership author and trainer Mark Miller was listening to the 2012 TED presentations when he noticed that most had a trait in common: the talks had been prompted by a question beginning with why.

  • “Why do children with rare diseases have to suffer?”—Jimmy Lin, a computer geneticist
  • “Why can’t we look for ancient archaeological sites from satellites?”—Sarah Parck, archaeologist
  • “Why don’t young people want to study neuroscience?”—Greg Gage, neuroscientist

If you want to make discoveries, if you want to disrupt the status quo, if you want to make progress and find new ways of thinking and doing, you need to ask questions. Questions are the first link in the chain of discovery and innovation.

John C. Maxwell, Good Leaders Ask Great Questions: Your Foundation for Successful Leadership (New York City, NY: Center Street, 2014).

 

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