I have worked with thousands of executives and managers over the years doing strategy work and in that journey I sometimes become the stand-by sounding board and coach for many.
One of the most puzzling and unsettling in those deeper conversations is the nature of corporate success. Many of my newfound friends were puzzled how their peers and (typically) bosses seem to move ahead with ease and grace while they were busy delivering on all their commitments and getting lost in the bigger picture.
Over time I came to a conclusion that is hardly scientific but statistically fairly accurate. The difference between super-achievers and the rest has a lot to do with the questions they ask and act upon and not just the skills they bring or the results they deliver.
Let me explain.
I noticed that my most successful customers had a rich vocabulary of transformational questions: Why do we do what we do, why should we serve these customers, why shouldn’t we try something else, what would be a better direction, what else can we try, what succeeds elsewhere, etc. Then listening intently to the achievement-challenged populace the questions tend to take a different tack: How can we work on this, how can it be done, who should do it, when should we do it, who’s job is it, etc…
Over time I logged the questions leaders ask vs the questions followers ask and came to a set of simple but fairly universal conclusion based on my little “questions determine destiny” theory.
- We all play both leading and following roles in different circumstances.
- Leaders are those who spend the majority of their cycles thinking WHY and WHAT questions and then follow through their answers with action.
- Followers spend the majority of their time asking HOW, WHO, WHEN questions and act on those tactical levels.
- Anyone can change their direction by focusing on WHY, WHAT and delegating the HOW, WHO responsibilities.
- Asking the right questions is not enough. Acting on the right questions makes people leaders.
- And of course it is just common sense.
I now use the above chart to mark my contacts based on the interactions we have and sometimes share my statistics if the topic comes up.
Technorati Tags: leadership, Right Stuff Employee, success
