I have been a big fan of Warren Berger’s work after I first
read his book: A More Beautiful Question when it first came out. I had picked
it up at the venerable Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington DC on
a whim, the title just sounded interesting. It never occurred to me that this serendipitous
act was going to change my perspective on many things: convinced me of the
efficacy using questioning as a way to test my thinking; clear up how I perceive
my thinking; and in many ways it made me look at my biases in a clearer manner.
I had awaited this new book with bated breath, and as I
gladly found out, it is also potentially life transforming.
Even though this book came out in 2018, I did not fully
finished the reading until recently, partly because of my schedule and partly
because I took on a massive reading list, which was motivated by the questions
I had generated for myself after reading the first book. Yes, Berger has
questions in this book about procrastination too.
Berger collected a large amount of questions, over 500, that
he felt were critical for various aspects of life. Some were thoughtful and
deep, while others were seemingly obvious, but not obvious enough as people are
not consistently asking these questions. Berger thoughtfully placed all of
these questions in a PDF and the document is available from his website. The list
is actually an index, which refers to the parts of the book where he discusses
and parses those questions. Very thoughtful indeed.
He covered many different areas and he grouped the questions
under those areas, and this is how the chapters are organized. The introduction
sets up the question of: Why Questions? Parts
I-IV drills deep into the topics of: decision making, creativity, personal
connection with others, and finally leadership. The last part of the book is
titled Conclusion, but it is really a guide to setting up the reader’s inquiring
life.
The beauty about this book is that the reader can select the
sections that is most meaningful to him or her, or they can choose to read the
book in order. The narrative guides the reader through the author’s thought
process as he parses each of the topics as well digging into the purpose and
rationale behind asking questions in a certain way. The reader can reason along
with the author, which forces the reader to learn about the nuances that are
possible from a simple question. It can be some rigorous mental gymnastics, which
fortuitously results in clarity of thought.
My favorite parts were the parts on decision making and
creativity. If I had to pick a least favorite chapter, it would be the one on
leadership. I don’t argue with the questions, nor do I quibble with the philosophical
thoughts cited regarding strong leaders. I do have issues with the way the
author talks about the execution and mindset for leadership. It is inevitable
that he takes the tack of a run of the mill business book because the book of the month approach that follows
along in organization like the millions of other business books that populate
the discount bins is what the marketplace demands. This book is much better
than that and I think the message that he has regarding leadership is much deeper
and thought provoking than those coming out of the mouths of the business
gurus. I wish that he had invested in drilling deeper into history and the
deeply ingrained leadership lessons from the ancients than the CEOs of modernity.
The former is time tested and the latter is still a transient looking to settle
down. It is all a matter of the time constant.
But that is a minor quibble in what is overall a very good
read for those who relish being challenged intellectually and enjoy being a polymath
in this culture of specialists. The habit of asking questions is what the
author is seeking to evolve, the questions that he uses in the book are
examples, a starter kit for those nascent questionologists. The list of questions
are to be used to jump starting their thought processes.
I will be dissecting Berger’s list in the next few days and
thinking about how I can best use his list of questions. Of course, I will be
asking questions. Lots of questions.
