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

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ways to restructure a question to make it more interesting (i.e. by opening or closing it, or by making it more specific) Critical thinking is genuinely looking at the other view with an open opinion. Many people apply the basic priniciples of critical thinking (questioning, evaluating, investigating), but are doing it for the sole purpose of confirming an existing view.

That definition makes clear that this book is not about grand philosophical or spiritual questions—Why are we here? How does one define “good”? Is there life after death?—all of those great questions that spark endless, impassioned debate. … The focus here is on questions that can be acted upon.

Reader James Parker submitted the above question, writing: “I didn’t create this question, but it’s from a book that is written entirely around one single question, The ONE Thing, by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. Chapter 2 focuses on creativity. Here he cites several works, including Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All and many others. Given that most of these books appear to be nugget of a good idea + lots of padding + bit of self-help this section turned out to be surprisingly useful. Find out more about my 2014 book, A More Beautiful Question, which introduced the power of beautiful questions to the world. Seven years later, with sales now well over 100,000, it’s still going strong! Chapter 4 was about leadership, specifically servant leadership. This is an incredibly popular and well-worn topic, and one that makes sense in a military context where you (squad leader) could be shot down in armed combat and be completely reliant on your team to save you. However, there's a fair amount of evidence to suggest that this approach doesn't translate as cleanly (and as universally) into business as we might all want it to. For more on that, I can recommend Leadership BS: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time.

An especially quirky beautiful question submitted by James Favata at Leading Authorities speakers bureau, who spotted it in this video by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. A beautiful question is an ambitious yet actionable question that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something—and that might serve as a catalyst to bring about change. Is there a relationship between innovation and the ability to ask ambitious questions? The journalist and innovation expert Berger argues there is, and in this breezy management book he seeks to improve our capacity to question.... One closes A MORE BEAUTIFUL QUESTION newly conscious of the significance of smart questions.” And what else? The “AWE” question may be the best way to draw out deeper insights—and keep you in listening mode.Drawn from the insights and expertise of psychologists, innovators, effective leaders, and some of the world’s foremost creative thinkers, Berger’s beautiful questions will guide readers to their own answers where it matters most.