Tagged
- questions
- decisions
- framing
Carly Osman-Holme, Sprowt.
I am much more interested in questions than answers.
Which sounds like something somebody would put on a mug, but I genuinely mean it.
The question you ask determines the world of answers available to you.
“How do we make our marketing work harder?” assumes marketing is the thing that needs fixing.
“How do we attract younger customers?” assumes younger customers are the opportunity.
“How should we rebrand?” assumes you need a rebrand.
Sometimes those assumptions are completely right. But look what happens if you move the question slightly.
“Why has growth slowed?”
“What has changed in our customers’ lives?”
“Who has the strongest need for this now?”
“What are people misunderstanding about us?”
“What would we need to know before deciding whether to rebrand?”
Suddenly the space gets bigger.
I think there is huge pressure in business to arrive with answers. Particularly if you're senior. You're being paid to know.
But I have seen a really good question change the direction of an entire conversation.
Sometimes my job isn't to walk into the room knowing the answer.
It's to notice that everybody is answering the wrong question.