The Book of Beautiful Questions: The Powerful Questions That Will Help You Decide, Create, Connect, and Lead

by Warren Berger

Overview

From the bestselling author of A More Beautiful Question, hundreds of questions that harness the magic of inquiry to tackle challenges we all face-at work, in our relationships, and beyond.

When we're confronted with almost any demanding situation, the act of questioning can help guide us to smart decisions in the face of uncertainty. But the questions must be the right ones; the ones that cut to the heart of complexity or enable us to see an old problem in a fresh way.

In The Book of Beautiful Questions, expert “questionologist” Warren Berger shares illuminating stories and compelling research on the power of inquiry. Drawing from the insights and expertise of psychologists, innovators, effective leaders, and some of the world's foremost creative thinkers, he presents the essential questions readers need to make the best choices when it truly counts, with a particular focus in four key areas: decision-making, creativity, leadership, and relationships.

The powerful questions in this book can help you:

- Identify opportunities in your career or industry
- Generate fresh ideas in business or in your own creative pursuits
- Check your biases so you can make better judgments and decisions
- Do a better job of communicating and connecting with the people around you

Thoughtful, provocative, and actionable, these beautiful questions can be applied immediately to bring about change in your work or your everyday life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781632869579
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	154,818
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

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. He is the author of several books, including the bestseller A More Beautiful Question. His writing appears regularly in Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, the New York Times, Psychology Today, and other publications. He lives in New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Why Question? 1

Why question? How con questioning help us decide, create, connect, and lead? What can we learn from a four-year-old girl? What are the five enemies of questioning? How might we foster a questioning habit? Why is questioning now more important than ever? Can questions bridge the gap between us? What if the future of democracy depends on questioning?

Part I Questions for Better Decision-Making 21

Why should I question my own decisions? why do I believe what I believe? Am I thinking like a soldier or a scour? Why should I accept what I'm told? Does my critical thinking have an agenda? What if this isn't a "yes or no" decision? What would an outsider do? What would I try if I knew I could not fail? How can Questioning help with something as primal and powerful as fear? What would "future me" decide? Which option will allow me to evolve and flourish? How would I later explain this decision to others? What is my tennis ball?

Part II Questions for Sparking Creativity 61

Why create? Where did my creativity go? What If I go looking for problems? What is the world missing? Why should this be my problem? Where is my tortoise shell? When is my prime time? Am I willing to kill the butterfly? What if I allow myself to begin anywhere? How do I get "unstuck"? Am I ready to "go public"? Do I want to be done or do I want to improve? How do I stay "en route"?

Part III Questions to Help Connect With Others 103

Why connect? What if we go beyond "How are you?" How might I listen with my whole body? What if I advise less and inquire more? How am I guilty of the thing I'm criticizing? What if I replace judgment with curiosity? How might I own my own biases? How might we form a stronger partnership? Do I want to be right or do I want peace? Can questioning help us connect in the workplace? Why is it hard for managers to "question down"? What If we replace the sales pitch with a "question pitch"?

Part IV Questions for Stronger Leadership 149

"What can we do to right this wrong?" Why do I choose to lead? Do I have the confidence to be humble? Why must I retreat in order to lead? What is my code? What is the least I can do? How can we become the company that would put us out of business? What's going on out there-and how can I help? Am I looking for what's broken… or what's working? Do I really want a culture of curiosity? How might we make questioning safe, rewarding, and productive?

Conclusion: The Inquiring Life 195

How might I begin to act on my questions? How can I warm up my questioning muscles? Can I build a better question? How might I test my built-in baloney detector? What if I looked at the world around me with a fresh eye? How (and with whom) shall I break the Ice? What if I interview myself? Can questioning help bring my family closer together? What if I trade my resolutions for "questolutions"? How can I encourage others to question more? What is my one "big beautiful question"?

Acknowledgments 221

Notes 225

Index of Questions 261

Editorial Reviews

Berger champions the humble question as among the most effective tools in business. In The Book of Beautiful Questions, he curates a selection of the best, culled from a variety of leaders, academics, entrepreneurs, and others.” —Inc.com

“In [A More Beautiful Question], the author explored how the right kinds of questions can spark creativity and innovation. In this follow-up, he delves further into 'beautiful questions,' which are powerful tools that can transform people's thinking . . . VERDICT: This practical work is designed to prompt action and get results” —Library Journal

“Guides professionals to think deeply about how they can use questions to improve decision making and to inspire creativity, connect with others, and cultivate leadership skills . . . Introspective readers, or readers who feel like they can't get off the hamster wheel, will find this helpful.” —Publishers Weekly

“Berger makes a good case for building questioning into work culture and work flow.” —Kirkus Reviews

“I have found several great books on questioning, and bestselling author Warren Berger's latest book, The Book of Beautiful Questions, is no exception . . . [I] recommend it to any small business owner wanting to expand their ability to inquire.” —Small Business Matter

“The Book of Beautiful Questions is a veritable gold mine. In its pages, you will find fresh (and often brilliant) ways to use the power of the interrogative to sharpen your decision-making, boost your creativity, and deepen your connections to others.” —Daniel H. Pink, bestselling author of WHEN, DRIVE, and A WHOLE NEW MIND

“If we want better answers, we need to ask better questions. Warren Berger shows us the incredible power that inquiry has to approach problems differently and to unearth powerful, innovative solutions. In an increasingly complicated world, knowing how to ask provocative questions is a must-have skill for success.” —Lisa Bodell, bestselling author of WHY SIMPLE WINS and CEO of FutureThink

“Warren Berger raises questioning to an art form. The Book of Beautiful Questions is a vital read for anyone who wants to excel at creativity, leadership, decision-making, and interpersonal skills. Berger offers a symphony of questions that will inspire you to become your own maestro of inquiry.” —Frank Sesno, former CNN anchor and author of ASK MORE

“Why don't we ask enough questions? Why do we ask so many bad questions? And how can we ask the kinds of great questions that make us better at leading, deciding, connecting, and creating? This isn't just a thought-provoking book on questions—it's also full of instantly useful answers.” —Adam Grant, bestselling author of ORIGINALS, GIVE AND TAKE, and OPTION B with Sheryl Sandberg

“Use Warren Berger and his new book as a guide for asking not only more beautiful questions but also more important ones. It may well make the difference between a busy life and a life that really matters.” —Greg McKeown, bestselling author of ESSENTIALISM: THE DISCIPLINED PURSUIT OF LESS

“The Book of Beautiful Questions gives us the power to re-imagine our lives. For those who seek to make better decisions and lead more effectively, it's a transformational resource you'll go back to again and again.” —Dorie Clark, author of ENTREPRENEURIAL YOU and STAND OUT

“Being an effective leader is not so much about having all the answers as asking the right questions. In The Book of Beautiful Questions, Warren Berger shows why questioning is critical to success—and provides hundreds of questions that can help you be a better thinker, partner, problem-solver, and leader.” —Marshall Goldsmith, bestselling author of TRIGGER and WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON'T GET YOU THERE

From the Publisher

08/20/2018
Journalist Berger (A More Beautiful Question) repackages familiar business advice for the inquisitive and the reflective. The author, who considers himself a “questionologist,” guides professionals to think deeply about how they can use questions to improve decision making and to inspire creativity, connect with others, and cultivate leadership skills. He believes that the urge to question is gradually socialized out of people as children, when they’re praised for the “right” answer and scolded for the “wrong” one, even though questions are the best way to develop ideas and goals. As to how to foster a “questioning habit,” he advises, “Try to ask at least one naive question before noon tomorrow.” The questions range from the concrete to the lofty, and sometimes include the hackneyed. These are interesting enough thought exercises to help readers in a rut, but as a whole, this is just a run-of-the-mill leadership book with slightly different framing, offering questions instead of answers. Introspective readers, or readers who feel like they can’t get off the hamster wheel, will find this helpful; others will feel they’ve read it all before. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

10/15/2018
What's in a question? Plenty, according to business journalist Berger. In an earlier work (A More Beautiful Question), the author explored how the right kinds of questions can spark creativity and innovation. In this follow-up, he delves further into "beautiful questions," which are powerful tools that can transform people's thinking. As a self-styled "questionologist," the author explores how the technique of asking questions can be used to brainstorm ideas, challenge our beliefs, engage with people more fully, and make wiser decisions. Berger focuses on four main areas: decision-making, creativity, connecting with others, and the ever-important realm of leadership. He looks at how asking the right questions can get to the heart of important matters by shifting our perspectives and helping us see issues from more than one angle. After laying the framework of the right questions to ask, the author rounds out the book with a discussion of how to create an inquiring life; the process of questioning instead of reacting; and probing to find solutions to problems. VERDICT This practical work is designed to prompt action and get results.—Carol Elsen, Univ. of Wisconsin, Whitewater Libs.

Library Journal

2018-08-20

The right question at the right time can inspire business empires, scientific insights, revolutions—and, of course, books such as this one.

In a book whose title is rather more elegant than its contents, business guru Berger builds on a predecessor, A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas (2013), to examine ways in which being an ardent, avid, active questioner can presumably build businesses, inspire ideas, and otherwise lead to good things in the world. The argument seems—well, inarguable, even if the author, who calls himself a "questionologist," does allow that an all too common response on the part of the managerial class is to demand, "don't bring me questions; bring me answers." What to do with such people? That's a good question, to which the answer is to understand that "having a curious, engaged, and inquisitive workforce presents challenges." Questioning authority is one thing; questioning how and why things are done is another, an exercise that Berger puts in the lap of none other than Steve Jobs, who was in the discomfiting habit of asking why things were being done the way they were at every stop on his round of Apple's offices. "As Jobs took on the role of the inquisitive four-year-old wandering the company," Berger writes, "it had a powerful effect on him and those around him—forcing everyone to reexamine assumptions." Alternating among case studies, series of model questions set within sidebars ("Why do I want to lead this endeavor?"; "Where will I ever find an original idea"; "How can I come up with an idea that will make money?"), and cheerleading, Berger makes a good case for building questioning into work culture and work flow. But a question emerges: Just how many books can this questionology business sustain?

There's nothing overly challenging here, but Berger's approach might prime the pump for deeper inquiries.

Kirkus Reviews