There are many lessons that I have learned in my adult life. One of them had to do with saying, “I don’t know.” Who knows why this was so difficult? I just know that years went by after I got married and my wife swears that she never heard those words from me.

“Where is the place that we are going?” she would ask. My answer was always, “Don’t worry, we’ll find it.” My motto was that we weren’t lost until we ran out of gas. (Note: If you have the same motto, always leave home with a full tank.)

Well, the cure for my malady was children. We have two and they are questioning machines.

“Dad, how much does that building weigh?”

“Daddy, is a gazelle faster than a horse? Which one is taller? Which one lives longer?”

“Dad, who was the best baseball player ever? Who was the second best? …”

Questions can tumble from their mouths faster than water goes over Niagara Falls. There is no defense except to admit the obvious – I don’t know. (Perhaps I know a few things. I am pretty sure that a horse is usually taller than a gazelle.)

It occurs to me that we learn a lot about life and business from the questions that are asked. Sometimes we also learn from the questions that are not asked. Of course we learn from the answers. How an organization deals with questions, answers and change say a lot about them.

What can you learn about a business by their competitive intelligence questions? Here are some ideas.

• If they have no questions, something is frightfully wrong about the business. Maybe their focus is exclusively internal (which means that they will likely miss important environmental and competitor information). Maybe their culture frowns on questions (take that as a danger sign). Maybe they just need practice in formalizing the questions. This is the best possibility because it can be remedied with some coaching.
• If they have good questions that regularly aren’t answered, perhaps they are missing something. For instance, sometimes organizations have unanswered questions simply because they are not precisely articulated. Or, it is often the case that people in the organization that might know the answers are never asked. Another possibility is simply that the people are blocked. The solution method that they need is unfamiliar or there is a cultural barrier for getting to what might otherwise be obvious to an outsider. Again, this can be remedied with guidance.
• If they have the good questions and their answers, it may be that the awareness of the answers is poor. It could easily be that the people that would act on the answer don’t have the information that is readily available. Occasionally businesses consider the answers so sensitive that they intentionally prevent the information from spreading. Then again, organizations are notorious for having multiple information silos that benignly deny useful answers to other groups. This can be straightforwardly addressed through more formalized sharing processes.
• If they have the answers and share them, the final hurdle is sometimes lack of action. The truth is that people need more than answers to precise questions. They need to have context, motivation and comparisons. Many a competitive intelligence professional has been disappointed by the response to their excellent analysis because they have missed these important facts about people. That is, change is difficult and often is the last thing that people want to do. Change does not feel safe and the risk to move forward is only justified when the alternative has been appropriately described as significantly less attractive.
• If a business actually acts it may not make the link between the original question and the impetus to move. In some ways, if the action is appropriate and beneficial, the notion of “giving credit” to the originally insightful question may not be important. On the other hand, crediting the good question/answer process is critical to develop and nurture a healthy culture. It should be okay to ask questions. In fact it should be expected particularly from those involved in business strategy and competitive intelligence.

There is a lot that I don’t know. I suppose that would probably describe you too. I am past the hang-up of needing to appear to know more than I really do (cured by the kids). Learning in business (and life) comes from a culture of open questioning. Good questions and useful answers are the engine that makes distinguished performance possible.

Here are my 5 lessons from the questions.

1. Formalizing a precise question means you are halfway to the answer.
2. Sharing your question greatly increases your chance of getting an answer.
3. Sharing the answer increases the likelihood of something happening.
4. Surrounding the answer with other information needed by people makes change more probable.
5. Improving is possible in any area with help.

I love questions now. I see them as freeing because they help me learn. They help me to organize my thoughts, engage in problem solving with others and make meaningful changes in business (and life).