An Emmy-award-winning journalist reveals how to ask the QUESTIONS that make a difference.
What hidden skill links successful people in all walks of life? What helps them make smart decisions? The answer is surprisingly simple: They know how to ask the right questions at the right time.
Questions help us break down barriers, discover secrets, solve puzzles, and imagine new ways of doing things. But few of us know how to question in a methodical way. Emmy-award-winning journalist and media expert Frank Sesno aims to change that with Ask More.
From questions that cement relationships, to those that help us plan for the future, each chapter in Ask More explores a different type of inquiry. By the end of the book, you’ll know what to ask and when, what you should listen for, and what you can expect as the outcome. Packed with illuminating interviews, the book explains:
- How the Gates Foundation used strategic questions to plan its battle against malaria
- How turnaround expert Steve Miller uses diagnostic questions to get to the heart of a company’s problems
- How NPR’s Terry Gross uses empathy questions to dig deeper
- How journalist Anderson Cooper uses confrontational questions to hold people accountable
- How creative questions animated a couple of techie dreamers to brainstorm Uber
Both intriguing and inspiring, Ask More shows how questions convey interest, feed curiosity, and reveal answers that can change the course of both your professional and personal life.
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Summary
The purpose of Ask More by Frank Sesno is to help you ask better questions. For each of the chapters he focuses on a different type of question. For example, chapter 2 talks about people who diagnose problems for a living and how they ask questions to get the best results. Chapter 3 is about strategic questions when you have to stand back and think big picture. Chapter 4 is empathetic questions that can help you connect with people you've just met. Chapter 5 teaches you how to have patience when questioning so that you can build a bridge to someone who doesn't want to talk to you by starting to connect with them. Chapter 6 is about confrontational questions were you really want to drive something home and hold somebody accountable. Chapter 7 is about questions where people can dream and think outside the box. Chapter 8 is questions about creating a sense of purpose and mission and finding a connection with people if you want to inspire them to help you.
Chapter 9 is about scientific questions and Chapter 10 is about money questions. Chapter 11 teaches you how to draw out memorable conversation. Chapter 12 is legacy questions.
He talks about how we are naturally curious and successful people develop the skill of asking questions. One of the major keys is that you have to take the time to listen. He challenges us to have a conversation and not use the words I or me. There's a section in the back with a Question Guide. It summarizes each of the chapters and and at the end of each section he gives you tips on how to practice that type of questioning. I think you could read the book all the way through or you could focus on chapters were you wanting to improve your questioning ability.