A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas - Hardcover

Berger, Warren

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1620401452 ISBN 13: 9781620401453

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2014

Synopsis

To get the best answer―in business, in life―you have to ask the best possible question. Innovation expert Warren Berger shows that ability is both an art and a science.

It may be the most underappreciated tool at our disposal, one we learn to use well in infancy―and then abandon as we grow older. Critical to learning, innovation, success, even to happiness―yet often discouraged in our schools and workplaces―it can unlock new business opportunities and reinvent industries, spark creative insights at many levels, and provide a transformative new outlook on life. It is the ability to question―and to do so deeply, imaginatively, and “beautifully.”

In this fascinating exploration of the surprising power of questioning, innovation expert Warren Berger reveals that powerhouse businesses like Google, Nike, and Netflix, as well as hot Silicon Valley startups like Pandora and Airbnb, are fueled by the ability to ask fundamental, game-changing questions. But Berger also shares human stories of people using questioning to solve everyday problems―from “How can I adapt my career in a time of constant change?” to “How can I step back from the daily rush and figure out what really makes me happy?”

By showing how to approach questioning with an open, curious mind and a willingness to work through a series of “Why,” “What if,” and “How” queries, Berger offers an inspiring framework of how we can all arrive at better solutions, fresh possibilities, and greater success in business and life.

About this title

About the Author

Warren Berger has studied hundreds of the world's leading innovators, entrepreneurs, and creative thinkers to learn how they ask questions, generate original ideas, and solve problems. His writing and research on questioning appears regularly in Fast Company and Harvard Business Review. He is the author of the internationally acclaimed book Glimmer, a groundbreaking analysis of innovative thinking that was named one of Businessweek's Best Innovation and Design Books of 2009. Berger has appeared on NBC's Today Show, ABC's World News, CNN, and NPR's All Things Considered. He lives in New York. His website is www.AMoreBeautifulQuestion.com.

Reviews

Berger emphasizes the power of inquiry as he challenges us to see things with a fresh eye. He concentrates on game-changing questions, those that can result in actions that lead to real results. The author focuses on innovation and invention stories, explaining that in business, questions challenge authority and disrupt established structures, processes, and systems, forcing people to at least consider something different. Berger offers his framework for problem solving in three stages. The initial “why” stage involves seeing and understanding, which include noticing what others missed and challenging both our own and others’ assumptions. The second, “what-if,” stage is about imagining that blue-sky moment of questioning when anything is possible; and the third, the “how to” action stage, is about doing. Asking the right questions will help us discover what matters, what opportunities exist, and how to find them. This thought-provoking book offers important insights to executives, and to those aspiring to leadership, for their business and personal use. --Mary Whaley

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1620401452
• ISBN 13: 9781620401453
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272