Ed and Ron were joined by Warren Berger, author of A More Beautiful Question and The Book of Beautiful Questions. Warren defines himself as a questionologist. To him, any question that causes people to shift their thinking is a beautiful one. They steer you in the right direction at critical moments when you’re trying to decide on something; create something; connect with other people; and be a good and effective leader.

First, a bit more about Warren Berger…
Warren Berger has studied hundreds of the world’s foremost innovators, entrepreneurs, and creative thinkers to learn how they ask questions, generate original ideas, and solve problems. His writing and research appears regularly in Fast Company and Harvard Business Review. He is the author of the internationally acclaimed Glimmer—named one of Businessweek’s Best Innovation and Design Books of the Year—and the bestsellers A More Beautiful Question, and The Book of Beautiful Questions. He lives in New York.

Ed’s Questions: Segment One

Warren, first I have to tell you that developing questions for a questionologist was intimidating. The first question I have for you is actually a directive statement: tell me how you became a questionologist.
You started out as a journalist. What do you think the state of journalism today is with regard to questions?
Having watched a little of the hearings with the tech companies being pulled before Congress yet again. These Congressman could use some work with you about asking questions. They don’t seem to ask many questions, rather they just make statements.
Even questions that are designed to intimidate. I think back on “Are you for us or against us?”
There’s one particular type of question that I find intriguing, and I do hear it from politicians relatively often, and consultants—I’m a consultant by trade, which is how I got into this whole question thing—when someone asks “Can I be honest with you?” Meaning everything I said to you previously…
How much of being a good questioner is also being a good listener?
One of the first books I read about questions was Mahan Khalsa’s great book called Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play. But the original book that that was based on and he gave to me as a gift, was called Asking Effective Questions. One of things he says, and he’s doing this in the business sales context, he was a big believer in not taking notes or writing down what the person is saying. Instead, just intently focus on listening to them, and asking permission to take a note on that? The makes sure you remain fully engaged with them.

Ron’s Questions: Segment Two

We’re here with Warren Berger, author of A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas, which I read the following year, and it was on my favorite books of the year. We even used your Q-Force exercise in some groups, and it was just really powerful. What is a Beautiful Question?
You give many examples in the book of businesses that basically were inspired by a question. Was it Edward Land of Polaroid who was taking pictures of his daughter?
You anticipated my next question. You wrote that a child asks about forty thousand questions between the ages of two and five. It dwindles down after that. Of course, teenagers don’t ask questions because they have all the answers. Why do you think that is, Warren? Why do we drum out questions, is it the school system?
One of the things you point out that I just love is that a beautiful question can come from the dumbest kid in the room.
Another thing that really came home from the Q-Force exercise, getting groups to think in terms of questions, everyone recognizes a great question. It’s really easy to separate the great ones from the not so great ones. They inspire you. You want to answer the question.
We’re big fans of Richard Feynman, and he said: "I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned." Somewhere in the book, you pose the thought that questions are becoming more valuable than answers? Make that case for that, which I find convincing.
As you wrote in your follow-up book, The Book of Beautiful Questions, “The best questions, the beautiful ones, cannot be answered by Google They require a different kind of search.”

Ed’s Questions: Segment Three

Longshoreman turned philosopher Eric Hoffer said (in his book Reflections on the Human Condition): “Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness came of age when man asked the first question. Social stagnation results not from a lack of answers but from the absence of the impulse to ask questions.” Warren, what are your thoughts on Mr. Hoffer’s statement?
I do think Hoffer nailed that idea of social stagnation, it’s not from a lack of answers. Politicians on both sides of the aisle all have answers but none of them ask new questions. I think that’s really the problem we are experiencing right now.
Ron mentioned Richard Feynman, and he said he was asked by his mom whenever he got home from school, “What questions did you ask today?” [It was actually Isidor Rabi, Nobel prize winner and discoverer of nuclear magnetic resonance that makes MRIs possible].
I direct my kids, when we did go to school, on their way out the door my advice to them was ask good questions today.
Sadly, in business, there’s this saying “there’s no such thing as a bad question,” and then if you ask one, the response is, “Well, that’s stupid.”
I want to bounce some great questions that I’ve collected in my consulting career. I want to ask you about them. Ask: “Would it be appropriate for me to ask you questions at this time?”
I’m replacing advice with curiosity with that question. This is one I recently added to my repertoire: “If you had any doubts about me, what would they be?”
The use of the word “if” at the beginning puts a conditional on it so it’s less intimidating. I’ve got two more for you. If I could nail a job interview to one question to decide whether or not to hire somebody: “Who is a hero of yours and why?”
Here’s the last one, which I stole from Peter Block—who I think stole it from someone else—and it’s what he calls The Mother of All Questions (MOAQ): “What is the question that if you had the answer would you make you free?” Block says it’s an unanswerable question, it can only be pondered, which is why it’s a great question.

Ron’s Questions: Segment Four

I’d like to jump to your follow-up book, The Book of Beautiful Questions: The Powerful Questions That Will Help You Decide, Create, Connect, and Lead that came out in 2018. I love that Elie Wiesel line you cite, American-Romanian writer and Holocaust survivor once observed: “People are united by questions. It is the answers that divide them.” That’s profound.
You also discuss, and I love this metaphor, the difference between a soldier and a scout. What is that difference?
I was recently asked about business books. I’ve written a few, you have. The question was Will business books survive? My answer was yes because people gravitate toward easy answers. They don’t want to engage in deep thinking, they just want to be told “how to” do it.
I want to ask you the Peter Thiel question, which I read in his book Zero to One: What is something you believe Warren that nearly no one agrees with you on?

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

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Bonus Episode 103, in which Ed tries to convince Ron to leave California, yet again, features conversations on several articles including: