As I finished writing the updated edition of A More Beautiful Question, I was asked by the publisher to create an index for the book. After I created the General Index, I decided to create three more sub-indexes, including one listing the Beautiful Questioners mentioned in the book and another that guides curious readers to the various question-driven breakthrough stories sprinkled throughout the chapters. (Many of those stories are captured in the It All Started With a Question gallery here on this site.)
In making the third index, one that collected all the different types of questions discussed in the book, I found to my surprise there were more than 50 different entries covering either types of questions or types of questioning/inquiry.
I thought I’d share that interesting list below. (Sorry that I don’t have time to define them all here, but the page numbers tell you where you can locate them in the book.)
Two things to point out about this list. First, it is by no means comprehensive. There are types of questions (such as rhetorical questions) that are not on the list simply because I didn’t discuss them in A More Beautiful Question.
Second, if you don’t recognize some of these terms it may be because I coined them myself. As a questionologist, I have license to do that kind of thing.
If I had to pick a favorite from all these types of questions? I think I like constraint questions best, though I’m quite partial to “How Might We” questions, as well.
A More Beautiful Question
TYPE OF QUESTIONS INDEX
actionable question, 8
ambulatory inquiry, 149
appreciative inquiry, 18, 146
authentic question, 167
AWE question (And What Else?), 183
beautiful question
definition of, 8–9
ee cummings line, 3
finding your own, 205–212
sharing your, 211
best-case scenario question, 205
bridge question, 189
challenger question, 84–85
closed question, 17, 25, 58, 88–89
collaborative inquiry, 120, 125, 127, 153
compound question, 210
connective inquiry, 33, 49, 70, 94, 96–97, 100–101, 105–106, 112, 205
consensus-building question, 190
constraint question, 109–110
contextual inquiry, 31, 71, 86, 90–91, 101
counterfeit question, 167
cupid questions (that may cause you to fall in love), 183
east/west question, 182–183
echo question, 181
entrepreneurial question, 138
five whys, 86–87
follow-up question, 37, 40, 145, 182–184
guiding question, 184–187
“How Might We” question, 127–129
effectiveness of, 128
origin of, 128
use by Google, 129
humble inquiry, 149
ice-breaker question, 200
immersive questioning, 91
innovative questioning, 27, 127–129
“invisible teapot” question, 167
jugular question, 161
leader question, 141–146
mirror question, 181
mission question, 152–153
naïve question, 12, 69, 71, 74–75
north/south question, 182–183
open-ended question, 17, 25, 88, 133, 149, 173, 175, 186
paraphrasing question, 181
passion question, 203
perspective-shifting question, 158
productive question, 151
“question sandwich,” 178, 190
questions a leader should not ask, 146–147
“questolution” (resolution reworded as a question), 201–202
responsible questioning, 167
rote question, 200
skeptical question, 155, 163–168
speculative inquiry, 142
strategic questioning, 14, 172
“vuja de” questioning, 78–79
WAIT question (Why Am I Talking?), 180
“what if” question, 60, 95, 97, 103, 112
“why/what if/how” question framework, 7, 29–31, 69–71, 199
worst-case scenario question, 204
