Are questioners more successful than the rest of us?

SteveJobs+JeffBezosQuestioners A fascinating study suggests the answer is “yes.”

Years of research on some 3,000 creative executives conducted by Professor Jeff Dyer of Brigham Young University and Hal Gregersen of the INSEAD business school, culminated in the report “The Innovators’ DNA,” with intriguing findings that there were several personal attributes that linked all of these Steve Jobs–types. Perhaps more than anything else, what stands out is their curiosity and willingness to question—“The same kind of inquisitiveness you see in small children,” according to Gregersen. This correlates with my own informal research for my book Glimmer. I found that many of the most successful innovators, entrepreneurs, and world-changing designers were people who weren’t afraid to question everything. See this Harvard Business Review interview with Dyer and Gregersen for more background on the study.

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About the Author

Innovation expert and questionologist Warren Berger has studied hundreds of the world’s foremost innovators, entrepreneurs, and creative thinkers to learn how they ask questions, generate original ideas, and solve problems. He is the author or co-author of 12 books, including his three books on questioning: A MORE BEAUTIFUL QUESTION: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas; its follow-up THE BOOK OF BEAUTIFUL QUESTIONS: The Powerful Questions That Will Help You Decide, Create, Connect, and Lead; and BEAUTIFUL QUESTIONS IN THE CLASSROOM: Transforming Classrooms Into Cultures of Curiosity and Inquiry. Warren’s writing has appeared in Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, and The New York Times, and he writes the “Questionologist” blog for Psychology Today. He lives in Mount Kisco, New York. Follow him on Twitter at @GlimmerGuy and subscribe to his blog posts

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