The Art of Asking: Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers

Ask the Right Questions in the Right Ways...And Get the Answers You Need to Succeed!

Discover the core questions that every manager needs to master...how to avoid the mistakes business questioners make most often...ten simple rules for asking every question more effectively. Learn how to ask tough questions and take control of tough situations...use questions to promote innovation, drive change, identify hidden problems, and get failing projects back on track.

Ask better questions, get better answers, achieve better results!

“Required reading for every leader who wishes to see his or herorganization flourish and career progress.”

Garry A. Neil, MD, Corporate Vice President, Johnson & Johnson

“Asking, listening, understanding the real meaning of the answers, and taking actions based on facts are really the essence of managing. This book has helped me in connecting the dots in my understanding (and lack thereof) of why things really did not work the way I expected them to.”

Pradip Banerjee, PhD, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Xybion; retired partner, Accenture

“The framework and techniques provide outstanding ideas for executives to both gain better information and develop the analytical skills of their teams.”

Terry Hisey, Vice Chairman and US Life Sciences Leader, Deloitte

We’ve all met the corporate inquisitor: the individual whose questions seem primarily intended to terrify the victim. The right goal is to solve the problem--and to build a more effective, collaborative organization where everyone learns from experience, and nobody’s too intimidated to tell the truth.

That means asking the right questions in the right ways. This book will teach you how to do precisely that. Terry J. Fadem shows how to choose the right questions and avoid questions that guarantee obvious, useless answers...how to help people give you the information you need...how to use body language to ask questions more effectively...how to ask the innovative or neglected questions that uncover real issues and solutions.

You’ll learn how to adopt the attributes of a good questioner...set a goal for every question...use your personal style more effectively...ask tough questions, elicit dissent, react to surprises, overcome evasions, and more. Becoming a better questioner may be the most powerful thing you can do right now to improve your managerial effectiveness--and this book gives you all the insights, tools, and techniques you’ll need to get there.

• Evaluate your current “questioning” skills...
  ...then systematically improve them
• Choose better questions...
  ...and ask them the right way
• Ask tough questions more effectively
  Get at the truth, uncover the real problem, and solve it
• Master the crucial nonverbal aspects of asking questions
  Finding your best style and the right body language

T.J. (Terry) Fadem is a veteran manager with 25 years of experience ranging from supervising steel workers (J&L Steel) to managing in a major corporation (DuPont) to working with start-up companies. His business venture teams have been profiled in books and periodicals, and he has also been a frequent speaker and consultant on strategic management issues. Fadem is currently the managing director, Corporate Alliances at the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania where he is also a member of the Core Team of the Mack Center for Technological Innovation at the Wharton School. In addition, Fadem is president of the Biomedical Research and Education Foundation.