If you’re looking to get ahead or climb the corporate ladder, don’t ask your boss how to solve problems or to answer questions.
A thought leadership piece on the website Strategy + Businessoffers up this bit of advice saying leaders who build strong teams are much better at asking questions than answering them. So, if you want to be on a team with an upward trajectory, don’t ask the boss for answers. Give them answers.
This is especially true in smaller, entrepreneurial organizations. Decisions in small businesses tend to be made at the top and then flow down to the team. In big businesses or enterprise, business decisions flow upwards. Management makes recommendations and passes them up to the CEO or board of directors for approval….the board doesn’t issue decrees, it responds to management directives.
The article looks back over history in its pursuit of questioning answers rather than answering questions, noting that only humans ask questions or citing Albert Einstein who says questions make us better problem solvers.
