In this episode, author and journalist Warren Berger joins us to discuss his book, A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry in Sparking Breakthrough Ideas, which examines the ways in which deep questioning fuels innovation. Warren has contributed articles and stories to The New York Times, GQ, New York magazine, and The Los Angeles Times, and was previously magazine editor for CBS and contributing editor for Wired.

• How questioning leads to innovation and why Warren believes the best innovation is fuelled by an endless cycle of questioning at every stage
• The benefits of both informed and uninformed questioning and how these differences interplay within different work cultures
• How to get into deep questioning within the constraints of existing processes and routines

Key Takeaways and Learnings

• How to use combinatorial thinking and sharing questions with other people, colleagues, and experts to learn perspectives and arrive at solutions that others hadn’t necessarily looked at before
• How ‘Why?’,‘How might I?’ and ‘What if?’ questions help to create new realities by combining things that don’t typically work together
• How to develop the habit of asking questions as a leader, and how to encourage your colleagues and team members to question with courage, curiosity, and focus

Links and Resources Covered in this Episode

• Get in touch with Warren Berger via Twitter
• Warren Berger's website1 and website2
• More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas, a book by Warren Berger
• Right Question Institute, website
• Christensen Institute, website
• Brain Pickings, a blog by Maria Popova
• Adam Grant, website
• Daniel Pink, website
• Farnam Street, website