A More Beautiful Question (41 page)

53
   
Why is my father-in-law so difficult
. . .
Just want to make clear that this is a hypothetical scenario—I have no problem getting along with my father-in-law, who is a terrific guy and great questioner in his own right—and who provided a number of excellent ideas and tips for the book.

54
   
Bruce Feiler, author of
The Secrets
. . .
From A.J. Jacobs interview with Bruce Feiler, Amazon.com, February 2013; also from Bruce Feiler, “The Stories That Bind Us,”
New York Times
, March 15, 2013.

55
   
When Doug Rauch came to the end . . .
From my series of interviews with Rauch, spring 2013. The Harvard program Rauch enrolled in is also covered in Glenn Ruffenach, “Tools to Help the World,”
Wall Street Journal
, May 30, 2012.

56
   
Should we retire the concept of “retirement?” . . .
Adapted from Marc Freedman’s “A New Vision for Retirement: Productive and Meaningful,” HBR.org blog, February 25, 2013, http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/02/a-new-vision-for-retirement-pr/; and also from the website www.encore.org.

57
   
Google’s Sebastian Thrun likens each of . . .
From Thrun’s 99U speech, “On the Universal Law of Innovation: Build It, Break It, Improve it,” April 2013, http://99u.com/videos/15737/sebastian-thrun-on-the-universal-law-of-innovation-build-it-break-it-improve-it.

58
   
Gary White’s ongoing effort to answer . . .
From my interview with White in New York City, February 11, 2013.

59
   
Bennett culls all of these bits . . .
Bennett’s blog, The Curiosity Chronicles, can be found at http://curiositychronicles.tumblr.com/.

60
   
Keep yourself away from the answers
. . .
The quote written on Colum McCann’s wall was mentioned in a profile of McCann by Joel Lovell, “The World Still Spinning,”
New York Times Magazine
, June 2, 2013. I wrote to McCann to ask him about it; his quotes are from our e-mail exchanges, June 20/21, 2013.

61
   
New York Times
interview with the . . .
Patrick Healy, “Now, the Next Stage,”
New York Times
, August 26, 2012.

62
   
The actor-turned-director Ben Affleck . . .
George Clooney, “George Clooney on Ben Affleck,”
Entertainment Weekly
, December 7, 2012.

63
   
What if we cultivated ignorance instead
. . .
From Firestein’s book
Ignorance
.

Index of Questions

Why are we doing this particular thing in this particular way?, 2

With so much evidence in its favor and with everyone from Einstein to Jobs in its corner, why, then, is questioning under-appreciated in business, under-taught in schools, and under-utilized in our everyday lives?

Why does a 4-year-old girl begin to question less at age 5 or 6? And what are the ramifications of that, for her and for the world around her?

If, as Einstein tells us, questioning is important, why aren’t we trying to stem or reverse its decline by finding ways to keep questioning alive?

Why do some keep questioning, while others stop? (Was it something in the genes, in the schools, in the parenting?)

If we look at the questioners versus the non-questioners, who seems to be coming out ahead?

If we know (or at least strongly suspect) that questioning is a starting point for innovation, then why doesn’t business embrace it?

Why don’t companies train people to question, and create systems and environments that would encourage them to keep doing so?

If companies were to train people to question, and create systems and environments that encourage them to do so, how might they go about it?

How can we develop and improve this ability to question?

Can we rekindle that questioning spark we had at age four?

If facts are entitled to an index, then why not questions?

Why are we here, How does one define ‘good,’ Is there life after death? (questions not covered in this book)

What is the fresh idea that will help my business stand out?

What if I come at my work or my art in a whole different way?

How might I tackle a longstanding problem that has affected my community, my family?

If they can put a man on the moon, why can’t they make a decent foot?, (Van Phillips’ big question)

Why don’t they come up with a better snow shovel?

I wonder if this prototype will hold up better than the last one?

How might we prepare during peacetime to offer help in times of war?

What if this change represents an opportunity for us? How might we make the most of the situation?

Why are we falling behind competitors?

Who is to blame?

What business are we in now—and is there still a job for me?

Now that we know what we now know, what’s possible now?

Why should I have to pay these late fees?, (the question behind Netflix)

How am I going to explain these late fees to my spouse?

What if a video rental business were run like a health club?

Why do we have to wait for the picture? (the question that led to Polaroid)

Can animation be cuddly?

With all that’s changing in the world and in our customers’ lives, what business are we really in?

I established myself over the years—so why should I have to start over?

How is my field/industry changing?

What trends are having the most impact on my field, and how is that likely to play out over the next few years?

Which of my existing skills are most useful and adaptable in this new environment—and what new ones do I need to add?

Should I diversify more—or focus on specializing in one area?

Should I be thinking more in terms of finding a job—or creating one?

Are questions becoming more valuable than answers?

What if we could paint over our mistakes? (the question behind Liquid Paper)

What is the agenda behind this information? How current is it? How does it connect with other information I’m finding?

Can technology help us ask better questions?

Why did my candy bar melt? (and will my popcorn pop?)

Could the energy from radio waves be used to cook food?

Is “knowing” obsolete? (Sugata Mitra’s big question)

Why does it all begin with Why?

If they can put a man on the moon, why can’t I (not “they”) make a decent foot?

Why did a prosthetic foot have to be shaped like a bulky human foot? Did that even make sense?

Why was there so much emphasis on trying to match the look of a human foot? Wasn’t performance more important?

Why did this have to happen to me?

Why am I not happy with my life as it is?

Why is my career not advancing in the way I’d hoped? Or if it is advancing, and I’m still not happy, why is that?

Why aren’t the players urinating more? (the question that led to Gatorade)

Why is my product or service failing to connect with customers who ought to love it?

How do you move from asking to action?

Are we too enthralled with answers?

Are we afraid of questions, especially those that linger too long?

What if a car windshield could blink? (the question that led to windshield wipers)

Why can’t a wiper work more like my eyelid, blinking as much (or little) as needed?

What if you could somehow replicate a diving board’s propulsive effect in a prosthetic foot?

What if a human leg could be more like a cheetah’s?

How do I actually get this done?

How do I decide which of my ideas is the one I’ll pursue?

How do I begin to test that idea, to see what works and what doesn’t?

If/when I find it’s not working, how do I figure out what’s wrong and fix it?

Why does it have to cost so much? What if the design were tweaked in some way—through new materials, different processes—so as to make this accessible to more people? How might I make that work?

How did “master questioners” come to be that way? And why aren’t more people like that?

Why do kids ask so many questions? (And how do we really feel about that?)

Papa, why can’t we go outside?

Why is the sky blue?

Why does questioning fall off a cliff?

Is the ‘student cliff’ even scarier than the fiscal cliff?

Do kids stop questioning because they’ve lost interest in school, or do they lose interest in school because their natural curiosity (and propensity to question) is somehow tamped down?

Why do we want kids to “sit still” in class?

If schools were built on a factory model, were they actually designed to squelch questions?

Why are we sending kids to school in the first place?

What kind of preparation does the modern workplace and society demand of its citizens? What kind of skills, knowledge, capabilities are needed in order to be productive and thrive?

What if our schools could train students to be better lifelong learners and better adapters to change, by enabling them to be better questioners? How might we create such a school?

Can a school be built on questions?

Is a test-driven education the most likely path for producing an inventive and feisty citizenry?

What would it look and sound like in the average classroom if we wanted to make ‘being wrong’ less threatening?

What might the potential for humans be if we really encouraged the spirit of questioning in children, instead of closing it down?

How do we know what’s true or false? What evidence counts?

How might this look if we stepped into other shoes, or looked at it from a different direction?

Is there a pattern? Have we seen something like this before?

If you can’t imagine you could be wrong, what’s the point of democracy? And if you can’t imagine how or why others think differently, then how could you tolerate democracy?

Isn’t there anything better than this?

What’s interesting to me?

Why do movie tickets cost the same for hits or duds?

How long is it going to take the water tank to fill up?

Who is entitled to ask questions in class?

What is a flame? (Alan Alda’s lingering question)

How do you make science enjoyable for kids?

What is time?

Do we really want 300 million people who actually think for themselves?

Would students who are battling against stereotypes be less inclined to interrupt lessons by asking questions—which might reveal to the rest of the class that they don’t know something?

If we’re born to inquire, then why must it be taught?

Why is torture effective? How do you define torture? Can torture make you happy? Does torture have anything to do with justice? Who are mostly to be tortured? How can someone’s pain be the price for the outcome you want? (questions asked by schoolchildren using the RQI method)

What can the people thinking about social problems or making social policy learn from the people who are actually affected by those problems?

What if we could find a way to help parents ask better questions at school meetings?

What if we take the adult question-formulation program and adapt it for school-age kids?

Is it not curious, then, that the most significant intellectual skill available to human beings is not taught in schools?

Can we teach ourselves to question?

How might parents make their kids better questioners?

Again, why do we have to wait for the picture?