Ok, I Do Actually Believe There Is Such a Thing As A Stupid Question...

despite the oft quipped "There is no such thing as a stupid question."

But when it comes to writing, marketing, product creation and more, sometimes the willingness to ask what may on the surface seem like a stupid question may be brilliant.

Yes, questions that clearly demonstrate you're not listening or are disrespectful or make it blatantly obvious you've not done your homework are stupid.

Making it safe for others to finally find out better what really is and isn't known, and sort out what's important to move forward can make a huge difference.  It takes courage though, as it can sometimes seem too fine a line between risking others thinking you haven't done your homework or coming across disrespectfully by asking what may seem like too simple questions.  The fear of looking stupid is a bit like the old story of the emperor's new clothes, when it took a child to point out what no adults would; the naked truth can be far more embarrassing than looking stupid.

I still vividly remember how stupid I felt repeatedly asking for details in a meeting where the speaker got very frustrated with me when I insisted on sorting out what we did and didn't know.  Looking around for support, I sought someone, anyone else looking like they were interested, or, even irritated.  All I saw were poker faces.  Feeling foolish, I did still manage to leave the meeting with the clarity I needed to do my job.  For days, weeks and months later, colleagues from meeting thanked me for probing, told me how much they appreciated it.  Surprised, I asked why no one else stepped forward and was unable to get any kind of response from anyone.  Ultimately I decided it was as simple as my willingness to risk looking stupid.  As part of my job included supporting the speaker, despite her frustration with me in the moment, my questioning if anything improved rather than damaged my working relationship with her (and now many years and jobs later, we're still in contact). 

Questioning accepted norms could open up totally new horizons. 

 

It takes a disguised kid, Tom Hanks as Josh in the ’88 movie “Big” to be brave (or naïve) enough to totally break open a new line of thinking for toy product design.  He does it by innocently admitting “I don’t get it!”  He both becomes a hero, and makes an enemy at the same time. 

 

One of my favorite questions to ask when someone is trying in vain to sell a hammer and believes the entire world is a nail… “What happens if I do nothing?”  Often the greatest barrier of all to overcome is inertia, that whatever is happening today is good enough.  Dig deep to honestly assess from their perspective what will prompt change.  What fears, or uncertainties, pain or pleasure is powerful enough to motivate change?  At what cost or price is it worth it?  What other alternatives do they have?  What makes yours better?  How will the find that out and what will it take for them to believe it? 

 

All of these questions need to include the phrase “for them”.  Not sure of that answer?  Then ask “them”.

 

These may seem like basic questions, and yet they often go unasked, or get filtered out by asking those who will give us the answer we want to hear, or interpreted the way we want to hear it, because we can’t handle the truth.

 

Too bad, it’s far less expensive to kill a bad idea that to stick stubbornly with it.  A finance department once told me I saved my company 1-2 million dollars by having the courage to stop a product I was tasked with introducing. Tough and scary to do, as then what was I going to work on?  Still, it was the right thing to do.

 

What opportunities are you missing, or unnecessarily foolish risks are you taking by not asking questions?

 

As Albert Einstein said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”  That from someone we tend not to consider dumb.