QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Every day, before leaving the office, save a few minutes to think about what just happened. Look at your calendar and compare what actually happened — the meetings you attended, the work you got done, the conversations you had, the people with whom you interacted, even the breaks you took — with your plan for what you wanted to have happen. Then ask yourself three sets of questions:

• How did the day go? What success did I experience? What challenges did I endure?

• What did I learn today? About myself? About others? What do I plan to do — differently or the same — tomorrow?

• Who did I interact with? Anyone I need to update? Thank? Ask a question? Share feedback?

~ from Peter Bregman, CEO of Bregman Partners, Inc., a global management consulting firm, & author of 'Point B: A Short Guide To Leading a Big Change', writing in the Harvard Business Review;

A NICE AND YET PENETRATING QUESTION TO PONDER

A nice and yet penetrating question to ponder (inspired by author-filmmaker-futurist Joel Arthur Barker):

"What do I do in my job that I should only do in Hell?"

QUESTIONS TO PONDER: 10 Questions That Create Success

I am always fascinated by questions, and have quite a large personal collection gathered over the years from a multitude of sources.

I often like to apply them in all my spheres of daily activity, so that  I can get to ponder about my own personal growth, as well as to help me focus quickly on what really matters.

Here's a great sampling from Geoffrey James writing in the 'Sales Source' column of the widely-read INC.com online magazine.

1. Have I made certain that those I love feel loved?

2. Have I done something today that improved the world?

3. Have I conditioned my body to be more strong flexible and resilient?

4. Have I reviewed and honed my plans for the future?

5. Have I acted in private with the same integrity I exhibit in public?

6. Have I avoided unkind words and deeds?

7. Have I accomplished something worthwhile?

8. Have I helped someone less fortunate?

9. Have I collected some wonderful memories?

10. Have I felt grateful for the incredible gift of being alive?

[Source: INC.com online magazine, 23rd January 2012]

QUESTIONS TO PONDER ABOUT YOUR STRATEGY

Question 1: Will your strategy beat the market?

Question 2: Does your strategy tap a true source of advantage?

Question 3: Is your strategy granular about where to compete?

Question 4: Does your strategy put you ahead of trends?

Question 5: Does your strategy rest on privileged insights?

Question 6: Does your strategy embrace uncertainty?

Question 7: Does your strategy balance commitment and flexibility?

Question 8: Is your strategy contaminated by bias?

Question 9: Is there conviction to act on your strategy?

Question 10: Have you translated your strategy into an action plan?
 
[Source: McKinsey Quarterly]

TODAY'S Q2P (QUESTION TO PONDER)

How can you organise and build capability in innovative ways to ensure that organisational objectives are met, regardless of whether the economy (or an individual market) is expanding or contracting?

[Source: Changeboard: The write-up on "strategic agility" is interesting reading.]

TO HAVE ANY HOPE OF ANTICIPATING FUTURE MARKETS...

... and market trends, companies have to become much more innovative in the way they listen to their customers. Each time an answer comes back, they need to ask themselves, 'Does this suggests ways that we can change and deliver more value in the future?' And they need to ask this question about all the four dimensions of value ~ speed, quality, price and convenience.

~ innovation strategist Stephen Shapiro, writing in '24/7 Innovation: A Blueprint for Surviving and Thriving in an Age of Change';

INSTEAD OF ASKING WHAT WE DO BEST TODAY...

... we, as managers, should ask, 'What do we need to master today, and what will we need to master in the future, in order to excel on the trajectory of improvement that customers will define as important?'

~ from innovation strategists Clayton Christensen & Michael Raynor, writing in their "disruptive" book, 'The Innovator's Solution: Creating & Sustaining Successful Growth';

PRAGMATIC INSIGHTS FROM THE WISE

"The easiest success measurement tool is a simple question:

What did you do today to move forward?

The easiest project plan on earth is also a simple question:

What will you do tomorrow to move forward?

At the end of each day, document your success & design your next move!"

~ Rich DiGirolamo, speaker, consultant, & trainer;

CREATIVE QUESTIONNAIRE

Consider the questions that follow and decide whether you are en route to a black hole of oblivion... or???


Since you already know that the pace of change is accelerating, what are you doing about?

Since you already know that discovery and invention, creativity and innovation, are the new demands of society, what are you doing to not make yourself obsolete?

If the effects of change is that corporations are disappearing, what guarantees do you have about lifetime employment in your present organisation?

If you knew your job was to evaporate in a year, what should you be doing now that you have not yet started doing?

If you are one of those whose memory is declining with age, and you believe this is natural, what will you do to reverse this belief?

[Excerpted from 'Brain Symphony: Brain-blazing Practical Techniques in Creativity for Immediate Application', by Dilip Mukerjea.]

QUESTIONS TO PONDER: 7 ANTI-STUCK QUESTIONS FROM DUDLEY LYNCH

Thinkologist Dudley Lynch is one my most favourite authors, especially within the realm of brain-based, change-oriented, future-focused, technologies.

[When I talk about "brain-based", I am essentially referring to self-mastery, in terms of understanding my own brain, & also the brains of others, as well as mastery of the immediate environment by making it conducive to learning, or brain-friendly, so to speak.]

He is the founder of Brain Technologies Corporation, a consulting, training & publishing outfit on brain change, thinking skills upgrade & world handling tools.

Among his many excellent books, & not discounting his many equally excellent proprietary profile instruments, 'Your High Performance Business Brain' & 'Strategy of the Dolphin', plus 'The Mother of All Minds', have been most influential in my being today.

I have in fact gathered many of his excellent thoughtwares (books, instruments, quotes, etc.) in my 'Optimum Performance Technologies' weblog, where readers can go & read about the stuff.

Here, I like to take the opportunity to highlight his famous 7 anti-stuck questions (from his personal weblog): [I often use these provoking questions to poke & probe myself!]

1) My brain thinks I'm who?

2) So, what am alive to do?

3) What does my mind keeps turning my blind eye to?

4) How can I become a wiser, savvier winner?

5) Can my brain learn to avoid its bigger error?

6) Where's the real total story about me?

7) Where's the next level & how do I get there?

The questions, plus Dudley's teachings, have certainly made me realised that developing and sustaining a future-savvy mind requires the ongoing work of a personal lifetime.

I like to equate the foregoing, in some ways, with what psychologist Prof K Anders Ericsson first called "deliberate practice", which was subsequently popularised by marketing strategist Seth Godin in his 10,000-hour-challenge.

It is pertinent for me to point out Dudley's published thoughwares were generally not easy to read at first reading. They often required few deep readings, plus deliberate marginal annotations to flesh out his new-sprung ideas.

During my early years of learning pursuit, what I had like most was the author's disciplined & yet artful blending of cognitive sciences, psychology, physics, sociology, & business strategy in his writings.

On hindsight, I have also realised that most of author's work were often far ahead of the conventional mass-market business writings.

In fact, I am proud to say, much of his writings, despite the transpiration of time, are still relevant today.

Best of all, to my pleasant delight, the author had always offered me with a plethora of elegant choice-seeking strategies to think & act at the future edge.

To paraphrase the author,..."to think audaciously, live strategically & act wiseheartedly".

QUESTIONS TO DISCOVER NEW IDEAS

Here's an excellent approach from Annette Moser-Wellman, innovation consultant & author of 'The Five Faces of Genius':

[Her 'Five Faces Model' is quite interesting. According to her proposition, we need the five different perspectives - 'Seer', 'Observer', 'Alchemist', 'Fool' & 'Sage' - from which to creatively tackle today's business challenges.

From my point of view, it has more or less a broad parallel to Prof Howard Gardner's 'Five Minds for the Future', who argues brilliantly that we need five kinds of mental abilities - 'multi-disciplined', 'synthesising', 'creating', 'respectful' & 'ethical' - to achieve success in the 21st century landscape of accelerating change & information overload.]

For Individuals:

1) What solutions do you see in your mind’s eye?

2) What do you notice –details, hunches, intuitions – that lead to a solution?

3) What does this challenge remind you of? What ideas come from this analogy?

4) What happens if you invert this challenge? What about absurd solutions?
What if you persevered?

5) What’s the simplest solution for you to create? What ideas do you have when you look to the history of your challenge?

For Groups:

1) Ask each member to describe the wildly successful outcome they see in their mind’s eye. Build on the images to see what solutions arise.

2) Ask each participant to share what makes them curious about the problem. What are the things they don’t know, but would like to?

3) Have the group members think of similar problems in different businesses or industries. How did they solve the problem?

4) What if you approached the problem with a sense of humor? Have member share ideas from this perspective.

5) Ask each member to be the “complexity police”. Have them describe the complex parts of the issue and practice creating simple solutions.

[Source: The Genius Workout: Questions to Discover New Ideas';]

NEED HELP IN FINDING YOUR NEXT CAREER MOVE?

Try answering the following questions:

1) what activity makes my heart sing?

2) what talents do I have that are still untapped?

3) what dreams are unfulfilled?

4) what natural gifts do others repeatedly see in me?

5) what training have I always wanted to pursue but have not yet started?

6) what career choices do I regret not making?

7) is it really too late to get the training I need to live my dreams?

8) what would I do if I knew I could not fail?

[adapted from psychologist Terry Paulson's 'The Optimism Advantage: 50 Simple Tools to Transform Your Attitude & Actions into Results';]

MY FAVORITE PICTURE FOR THIS WEEK

QUESTIONS TO PONDER: 3 QUESTIONS that exist at the interplay between Selfishness & Selflessness

If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?

And if I am only for myself, then what am I?

And if not now, when?

~ Rabbi Hillel, (flourished 1st century BC – c. first quarter of the 1st century AD) Jewish sage & architect of rabbinic Judaism; remembered as a model scholar & communal leader, whose brilliance, patience, & goodness are to be emulated by all rabbis;

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Thanks to Google Alert, which has led me to the following action-oriented questions - to help you sustain your paradigm pliancy - from Tom Borg, president of Tom Borg Consulting Development & Training, writing in his weblog:

1. What is a business challenge you are currently facing in your business?

2. How could changing your business paradigm or your problem solving approach, help you create a profitable solution?

3. What new problem solving approach could you try?

4. Who else in your organization needs to be involved?

5. When will you begin tackling this challenge?

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

In tough times, where do you start from?

If your desire to change yourself is getting stronger, more urgent, where are your tipping points?

When you want to tell people about yourself, what's the most effective thing for you to say?

Readers can go to this weblink of 'The BrainMap', an unique self-assessment profile instrument created by thinkologist Dudley Lynch since the early eighties, to help you explore your answers to the foregoing questions, among others, so that you can build a road map to tomorrow.

[Dudley Lynch is the lead author of some of the thinking skills field's most unique & groundbreaking books, including 'The Mother of All Minds: Leaping Free of an Outdated Human Nature', 'Strategy of the Dolphin®: Scoring a Win in a Chaotic World', & 'Evergreen: Playing a Continuous Comeback Business Game'.]

THINKING STRATEGICALLY: QUESTIONS TO PONDER

When faced with a new task, ponder over these questions as part of thinking strategically:

1) what am I actually expected to do here?

2) how does this task resemble or differ from others I have dealt with before?

3) what different ways are there of interpreting this task?

4) what is the significance of the particular aspects of this task?

5) what do I actually know?

6) what are the facts as distinct from the opinions?

7) what information would I need to have in order to deal with this task?

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

What is impossible to do, but if it could be done, would change your destiny?

What do you consider impossible to do?

What would you do if you knew it was not impossible?

How would knowing change your life?

[Excerpted from the book, 'Superbrain Study Skills: Companion Book to the InGenius Seminars for Building Your Brainpower', by Dilip Mukerjea.]

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

[All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

QUESTIONS TO PONDER (Q2P)

Is your brain bubbling with ideas?

Or is it confused?

If so, consider:

What is your cost of confusion?

More importantly, to consider next:

What are you going to do about it?

[All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]