8/10/11 QUESTIONING....

(What is the meaning of this 'captured'? Green? Distance? Field? Serenity? Misery? Just keep questioning...)

While waiting for a friend who want to pay me a visit in MyKampung, I grabed a book titled: Leading with QUESTIONS by Micheal Marquardt. I have all through the years advocating my colleagues to continue asking questions on what they have, are and will be doing. The idea is to push them to do a mile better. The book exactly enforcing the need for one to keep asking questions, but not to be taken literally. A kid whom love to ask questions would has a very different attitude and outlook as compared to kid that is always being pamperred.

(2) The book will lead one to ask the correct questions through the guide of the Art of Asking Questions. To the author, asking the right question could help in Managing the People, Shape Strategy and Enabling Change as well as To Build Team. Sound great, and the book should be read especially by leaders, doesn’t matter at which floor level they are.

(3) The opening remark of the book: We live in a fast-paced, demanding, results-oriented world. New technologies place vast quantities of information at our fingertips in nano seconds. We want problems solved instantly, results yesterday, answer immediately. We are exhorted to forget “ready, aim, fire” and to shoot now and shoot again. Leaders are expected to be decisive, bold, charismatic, and visionary- to know all the answers even before other have thought the questions. This is a very strong and motivational one. Having such characters or quality would make one differ from the others.

(4) The findings of the book are applicable to our Asian culture which all this while taught our kids not to ask too much questions especially when the elders are around. The author among others had covered high profile CEOs and leaders covering: Brazil, Finland, Malaysia, Mauritius, Korea and Switzerland. In the olden days, such non-questioning culture was very strong and rooting deep among the Malays, and it has its own merit. Firstly not to create embarrassment to others. Secondly, there are some taboos that need to be observed. Thirdly, and I hope I’m wrong, they don’t have the correct answer to explain, say let listen to what would be the answer when a kid asking the mother or father:How does he or she come into the mum tummy when he or she is still not a baby?.

(5) I used and always been asking questions. Lots of questions in fact. Nonetheless not necessarily I need to open my mouth to question. Under natural circumstances, we must firstly observe what is there that we see, hear or touch. We need to mobilize our sensitivity, in some word searching for the meaning of things. Question could be ask by wondering, and even dreaming. Keeping ourselves wondering and thinking, a much intellectual way of questioning, would definitely giving us the better answer rather by mere asking question. The words who, what, why, when, and how are words of Question. I have said many times to colleagues that we must never stop asking question. The best question would be the one that would lead us into a better grounding: Is that the only best that I could perform?

(6) Be mindful, listen to one question, definitely we would know whether he or she is a baby (mull) or an adult (clever monkey) or even a hard working person or sloth and even we can detect a ‘thief’(pretender) or a ‘police’(truthfull) person.

Terasi, Simunjan.
9 Oct., 2011