by I’m currently re-reading this great book by a guy named Warren Berger, called A More Beautiful Question.
In the book, Berger examines the importance of questions in life and business.
And apparently, a recent study showed that the average 4-year-old British girl asks her mum 390 questions a day (boys aren’t far behind)…
390 questions every DAY?!?
Well done, Mums! (as if we needed another reason to celebrate ya)
But what’s most interesting to me about this mindboggling stat is that, as Berger puts it:
“…chances are, for the rest of her life, that four-year-old girl will never again ask questions as instinctively, as imaginatively, or as freely as she does at that shining moment.
Unless she is exceptional, that age is her questioning peak.”
Which got me thinking:
Those 4-year-old girls would make great entrepreneurs, wouldn’t they?
All those questions… all that unbounded curiosity…
All that craving to LEARN about the world, to KNOW MORE, to find out WHAT HAPPENS IF…
That desire to take one answer and turn it into another question…
(Ok, that can drive parents crazy but you get the point.)
Questions are what drive our businesses…
Not all questions have an answer – some have more than one, and some just lead to more questions…
But in your business (as in life), you NEED to ask the right questions to help you move forward.
According to the back-cover blurb for Berger’s book, questions are:
“One of the most powerful forces for igniting change… (and) can help us identify and solve problems, come up with game-changing ideas, and pursue fresh opportunities.”
And in my experience, questions are what help you communicate your true unique value to the people who want what you have.
Whenever I work with a client – and also when I’m someone else’s client – our work begins with a number of important questions.
The “Who, why, how, what and what else?” of things.
Figuring out which questions to ask, and where to look for the answers is a key part of what I do.
I like to think of this calibrated questioning process as ‘the work before the work’…
And if you’re not asking difficult questions of your biz, you’re selling yourself short.
Even experts who’ve seemingly mastered their practice over decades still need to ask questions, to keep things fresh and challenge assumptions.
The best writers and consultants I’ve paid for their expertise – people like Kevin Rogers, Jason Leister, Joanna Wiebe and Ryan Levesque – have helped me ask new, challenging and important questions of my business…
Every time I get an outsider’s opinion on things I come away inspired, focused and bursting with ideas.
It’s exciting when you feel that way, like being hit with an electric charge…
But it can be challenging and uncomfortable to ask yourself difficult questions.
Think of the leaders in business, sports, art and music that you admire…
It’s likely many of them became successful by questioning commonly held beliefs and coming up with (or inspiring) new answers.
Here’s one way you can do that which just might help you get clear on what’s important in your biz…
‘Vuja De’
Influential US comedian George Carlin used to talk about what he called ‘vuja de’.
It’s a kind of opposite to the familiar concept of déjà vu, but instead it occurs while experiencing something for the umpteenth time, but having “the strange feeling that somehow, none of this has ever happened before.”
Carlin was an outsider’s comic – someone who saw the world through his own unique lens, a little differently to everyone else.
(Many entrepreneurs are outsiders in this way too. And writers.
Having your own unique viewpoint can be a real advantage to creativity, if not always sociability!)
‘Vuja de’ is how Carlin described the process of coming up with some of his most humorous stand up observations.
But this perspective isn’t limited just to comic juxtapositions…
It can be used as a way of exploring new ways to market your products & services, and even as a way of developing new ones.
You’ve likely experienced the sensation yourself, of looking at something you see every day as if through suddenly-fresh eyes and thinking:
“Hang on, why is that like that?”
Or you notice a small detail or inconsistency with the potential to make a big impact if tweaked, and you think:
“Hmm, that’s weird. Now, what if…?”
You can use vuja de to explore alternative viewpoints…
…and by “not travelling through life on automatic pilot” as business author and Stanford professor Bob Sutton puts it.
When you become aware of vuja de, you start to see the world differently on a regular basis…
Kinda like being an alien popping down for a visit and not taking anything for granted, you start ignoring assumptions and following a different sort of logic that doesn’t rely on the same preconceptions…
It can open up new solutions to old problems, and even solutions to problems you didn’t even know existed.
Marketers and entrepreneurs can use it shake up your thinking and apply it to your messaging:
Think about how you might express a new-found vuja de-inspired discovery…
And what you would call it if you had to name your discovery, like naming a new planet…
About why it occurred to you in the first place…
And who it might affect (for better and worse).
If you’re struggling to express what’s truly unique about your offer…
Try throwing on your vuja de vision goggles (these don’t actually exist – yet!) for a day or two, and start looking a little differently at the problems your audience experiences, or at your product itself…
Are there assumptions or ‘received wisdom’ in your industry that you can skewer to illustrate how unfair or hypocritical something is?
Maybe there are some unusual terms or phrases that need to be examined, which can frame your service in a new light when they’re upended?
Look for the things everyone else seems to be ignoring…
…maybe that’s where you’ll find some unmet needs and new messaging opportunities.
I’ve recently put together a new service where asking questions – sometimes difficult, sometimes looking at things with ‘vuja de’ in mind – plays a key role.
If you’re a solopreneur (like a consultant or course owner), run a small business or work in digital marketing, head here for the details.
Experience has taught me that sometimes it takes an outsider’s perspective to ask and answer the most important questions that help you get noticed, communicate your true value, break through barriers and drive growth.
That’s what I’m helping people do these days. If you’re interested in that, take a peek at this page to find out how you can get involved.
(I promise there’ll be less than 390 questions in a day to be answered.)
