haha Great post Chris, got me thinking.

haha Great post Chris, got me thinking.

@sofish – I do not know a single word of conversational chinese

@pelf – Why not?

@jhay – Why can be a hard question, and it often leads to further questions

@Jack – I must be doing it right then

@Stephanie – Yeah I think we can learn a lot from children, their curiosity, their freedom to ask questions without fear their question is “dumb”, and their open mindedness that they don’t hold all the answers

@George – Agreed, a related question: “How did I get here?”

@Chuck – Ouch! But true

@Jennifer – Great story. It is a good thing to try to have an answer to “so what”, if we can’t come up with an answer perhaps we ought to go back to the drawing board

@charlie – Maybe the simplest questions get overlooked because they seem so obvious on the surface but hold a lot of secrets

@Erica – Perhaps the route is not as important as the discoveries, however you get there

@Advice – Heh, my little girl is a bit older than 4 but I remember what you mean

@alan – Good example In past jobs I was often answered with “because that’s how it has always been done around here”, to which I often came back with “why?”. Funny how few people could answer

@Sonia – Then what is a good one. Keeps us moving

@Jen – A starting point could be the most important point

@ming – Cool, will check it out

@sofish – I do not know a single word of conversational chinese

@pelf – Why not?

@jhay – Why can be a hard question, and it often leads to further questions

@Jack – I must be doing it right then

@Stephanie – Yeah I think we can learn a lot from children, their curiosity, their freedom to ask questions without fear their question is “dumb”, and their open mindedness that they don’t hold all the answers

@George – Agreed, a related question: “How did I get here?”

@Chuck – Ouch! But true

@Jennifer – Great story. It is a good thing to try to have an answer to “so what”, if we can’t come up with an answer perhaps we ought to go back to the drawing board

@charlie – Maybe the simplest questions get overlooked because they seem so obvious on the surface but hold a lot of secrets

@Erica – Perhaps the route is not as important as the discoveries, however you get there

@Advice – Heh, my little girl is a bit older than 4 but I remember what you mean

@alan – Good example In past jobs I was often answered with “because that’s how it has always been done around here”, to which I often came back with “why?”. Funny how few people could answer

@Sonia – Then what is a good one. Keeps us moving

@Jen – A starting point could be the most important point

@ming – Cool, will check it out

I like Jennifer’s “so what” too. Brutal, but good.

Another excellent one is “then what?” When you want to keep digging–”Our company/blog/nonprofit/project will create X, Y, Z, Q, R & S for our target customers.” OK. Then what?

I think all of these annoying little questions are about digging slightly deeper and getting to something more valuable.

I like Jennifer’s “so what” too. Brutal, but good.

Another excellent one is “then what?” When you want to keep digging–”Our company/blog/nonprofit/project will create X, Y, Z, Q, R & S for our target customers.” OK. Then what?

I think all of these annoying little questions are about digging slightly deeper and getting to something more valuable.

In my business, http://www.geometricinformatics.com, I am fanatical about excellent customer service. When a customer receives better service than they expected and ask why, I simply tell them that I’ve received terrible customer service from companies and I know what it felt like. I won’t inflict that on my customers.

I try to emulate the postive answers to the whys that I’ve experienced and learn from the negative whys that I ask myself when I review my mistakes.

So when you have a great idea and everyone says it can’t be done, just ask them – why not?

Alan

In my business, http://www.geometricinformatics.com, I am fanatical about excellent customer service. When a customer receives better service than they expected and ask why, I simply tell them that I’ve received terrible customer service from companies and I know what it felt like. I won’t inflict that on my customers.

I try to emulate the postive answers to the whys that I’ve experienced and learn from the negative whys that I ask myself when I review my mistakes.

So when you have a great idea and everyone says it can’t be done, just ask them – why not?

Alan

When every statement you make is met by a “why?”, it can make you CRAZY!

When every statement you make is met by a “why?”, it can make you CRAZY!