there is an imbalance you just want to
go up to them and ask them to please
please do some squats
perhaps some calf raises I want to talk
to you about another imbalance I’ve
noticed maybe you’ve noticed it too
society is focused on questions not
answers if this imbalance is real you
are at risk of not having the answers
you need to navigate the world you are
at risk of not having the answers you
need to navigate the kitchen table the
office the classroom or anywhere that
important questions are asked it seems
obvious to me that questions and answers
are both important questions and answers
both that both dirt deserve the bask in
society’s attention if you ask the right
questions and provide the right answers
instead we live in a society where
answers are behind a cloud answers are
seen infrequently and seldom seen by
society’s luminaries for example
Voltaire’s message questions determine
our character Bono’s message questions
Einstein’s message we should spend our
time and questions society’s message
questions are more important than
answers the imbalance is real let’s lean
in and explore this imbalance further
and its implications here’s a thought
experiment imagine you’re at a bar
should you order this beer I’ll explain
what I would do every beer in the world
is either a lager or an ale this beer is
an ale I like ales this beer is a
Belgian ale I really like those
excuse me bartender I’ll have the triple
caramel e please
in total there are ten beer types that
form a taxonomy of beers the beer
taxonomy is used to navigate your bar
order there are 118 elements in the
periodic table to navigate the lab there
are six learning domains to navigate the
classroom Porter’s five strategy forces
to navigate the boardroom every question
you asked yesterday today and will ask
tomorrow can be organized into a
taxonomy of questions how many question
types are there there are 6 that is easy
how many answer types are there that is
hard it is unbelievable but true we live
in a world with a beer taxonomy but no
taxonomy of answers wouldn’t it be great
if you had a list of the right answers
to navigate the kitchen table the
boardroom the classroom or anywhere the
important questions where I asked when
your young daughter asks you what is
beauty will you be ready to provide the
right metaphor when your coworker who is
Miss quota for three quarters in a row
asks you how do I close the deal will
you be ready to provide the right
procedure I’m here to share with you a
list of six answers to navigate the
world more than that I have come to
believe there is an intelligence an
ability to provide the right answers
that each of us can develop I refer to
this ability as answer intelligence aq
for short a Q is the ability to provide
the right answers to important questions
today we’ll take a small first step
towards rebalancing our understanding of
questions and answers the focus of aq is
answers but no science of answers can
exist without an examination of
questions we
ask questions to benefit others we ask
questions to benefit ourselves answers
are unambiguous in their intent answers
are hand up answers are selfless high aq
is the ability to elevate your answers
when the stakes are most important and
the questions are most important I’d
like to share with you today the four
most important habits of elevated
answers that you can use today high aq
habit one is answer twice both sides
must win we know great communicators win
both sides of the brain great
communicators answer twice communicators
with high aq answer the why what and how
questions two times so appeal to the
left and right side of the brain the
left side of the brain is logical
objective and sequential it prefers
answers such as theory concept and
procedure the right side of the brain is
creative subjective and random it
prefers answers such as story metaphor
in action let’s look at three examples
to illustrate answer twice I had a good
fortune to interview a highly decorated
and experienced Navy SEAL I asked him
why he was successful he answered this
why question with the story he explained
to me his mission was to capture a KL
insurgents in the Philippines who had
beheaded locals he approached the hut of
the of the village elder and his heavily
armored Hummer he proceeded to exit the
Hummer and then he took off his body
armor he proceeded to go directly inside
the hut and sit on the floor next to the
village elder the meeting went well and
several weeks later the village elder
gave over the names of the insurgents
this is a story a story provides an
answer to a cause-and-effect
theory is the logical counterpart to
story according to resource theory there
are six resources that our Navy SEAL
could provide to the village elder at
one extreme he could provide money an
economic resource at the other is other
extreme he could provide involvement a
type of social support our experience he
identified that in all of his years of
service the most important resources he
could provide to others in order to
achieve success and accomplish his
missions was status our experience seal
provided respect her status when he took
off his body armor as he exited the
Hummer and said directly next to the
village elder in contrast an
inexperienced seal would do the opposite
and actually erode status the
inexperienced seal might leave leave his
body armor on go inside and sit directly
opposite from the village elder
I interviewed a top-rated golf
instructor and she had a very
interesting niche she taught siyoung
pitchers the game of golf one of these
pitchers asked what is dynamic balance
associate at the golf swing dynamic
balance relates to the physics of the
golf swing this what question can be
answered twice first the concept of
dynamic balance can be defined dynamic
balance relates to the point of balance
in your body and how that point of
balance changes as you rotate through
the golf swing a metaphor can also be
used to explain the concept of dynamic
balance the swing in golf is like the
blank in baseball if you think the
swinging golf is like the swing in
baseball like I did you’re wrong
the swinging golf is like the throw in
baseball that dynamic balance is the
same perhaps you google this question if
you did Google returned something called
a recipe a recipe is a procedure of
sequence actions procedures and actions
are related but distinct
when we refer to the ten steps of baking
a cake we’re outlining a procedure that
appeals to the left side of the brain
when we identify any given step of that
procedure such as cracking an egg we are
identifying an action that appeals to
the right side of the brain high aq
habit – is answering context for any
given answer to be effective it must
imagine you’re at a job interview you
were in the lobby now you’ve been taken
to the interview room
awaiting the interview you’ve done your
research and you know the company has
employee turnover issues the interviewer
enters the room and the pointed
questions are asked you did your
homework you throw down like a hammer
with your best theory of employee
turnover and your best story of how you
reduce turnover as a manager now imagine
the context changes no problem you did
your homework you throw down like a
hammer with your best theory of employee
performance and your best story where
you increased performance as a manager
more generally all six answers must
reflect the context when and where if
you want to get the job high aq heavy
three is provide complimentary answers
any given answer can be complemented by
two additional answers I’ll explain this
is not a mere circle this is a
circumflex a circular ordering of
variables which holds that any given
answers can be complemented by two
adjacent answers I’ll explain let’s
imagine we’re all mentors and we’re now
sitting and mentoring training and you
the trainer should define the concept of
mentoring mentoring consists of career
supports social support and role
modeling to help a mentee grow
additionally the trainer should identify
implicit questions you have
you may be scratching your head thinking
how do I provide social support the
trainer should identify procedures to
implement mentoring for example an
open-door policy may be particularly
effective but to facilitate social
support a second complimentary answer
can be provided again you may be
wondering to yourself why am I sitting
here in this training I’m a busy person
I’m important I have other things to do
the trainer needs to establish a
theoretical relationship between
mentoring and desired outcomes the
trainer needs to point out that
mentoring is positively related to
mentee satisfaction mentee career
progression job performance in so doing
the mentor understands how important the
role is in so doing you’re all in in
some providing complimentary answers
reinforce each other in this example the
mentor knows what to do how to do and
why to do it
a circumplex also holds that opposite
answers resist each other consider this
example we go to the movies for the
stories we go to the movie of Julia
Child’s for a life story not to learn
the steps in her recipes for that we go
to PBS high aq habit for is answer with
style there are three answer styles that
each appeal two distinct communication
goals the goal of the relational style
is to make a personal and emotional
connection the goal of the practical
style is to achieve a tangible task the
goal of the analytical style is to
when you paint your masterpiece you will
have three colors to blend together
let’s take a look at the answer styles
of Steve Jobs and Apple during critical
points in their history let’s analyze
the original iPhone using the analytical
style we
want to do is make a leapfrog product
that is way smarter than any mobile
device has ever been and super easy to
Apple is smart and easy
why does Apple exist Steve Jobs the
force of gravity so strong he bent our
expectations for the company could
achieve companies typically achieve or
stripe or profits or seemingly
enlightened goals like loyalty Apple’s
goal love if the iPhone is smart and
easy you will love it
let’s get emotionally connected to
iTunes using the relational style iTunes
is a jukebox for you Millennials let me
introduce you to a jukebox a jukebox
with smart technology in its day it
could store an entire record collection
and serve up each record like magic and
it was easy just put in a dime and when
the music played you loved it let’s take
a hands-on tour of the Apple Store using
the practical style and it’d be great if
when you went to buy a computer or after
you bought a computer if you had any
questions you could ask a genius well
that’s what we’ve got this is called the
Genius Bar how do we work with Apple we
use the Genius Bar because it is smart
and easy and we love it for those of you
keeping track one question remains
who should ask the questions and who
should provide the answers research and
education has consistently shown from
kindergarten to higher ed that teachers
ask most the questions this same
research also holds that students only
learn when they ask the questions
in the mountains that you climb I hope
that you inspire others to ask the
important questions and when these
important questions are asked I hope
you’re ready to provide a hand up I hope
you’re ready to provide elevated answers
for meaningful change I hope that you have high aq thank you
go up to them and ask them to please
please do some squats
perhaps some calf raises I want to talk
to you about another imbalance I’ve
noticed maybe you’ve noticed it too
society is focused on questions not
answers if this imbalance is real you
are at risk of not having the answers
you need to navigate the world you are
at risk of not having the answers you
need to navigate the kitchen table the
office the classroom or anywhere that
important questions are asked it seems
obvious to me that questions and answers
are both important questions and answers
both that both dirt deserve the bask in
society’s attention if you ask the right
questions and provide the right answers
instead we live in a society where
answers are behind a cloud answers are
seen infrequently and seldom seen by
society’s luminaries for example
Voltaire’s message questions determine
our character Bono’s message questions
Einstein’s message we should spend our
time and questions society’s message
questions are more important than
answers the imbalance is real let’s lean
in and explore this imbalance further
and its implications here’s a thought
experiment imagine you’re at a bar
should you order this beer I’ll explain
what I would do every beer in the world
is either a lager or an ale this beer is
an ale I like ales this beer is a
Belgian ale I really like those
excuse me bartender I’ll have the triple
caramel e please
in total there are ten beer types that
form a taxonomy of beers the beer
taxonomy is used to navigate your bar
order there are 118 elements in the
periodic table to navigate the lab there
are six learning domains to navigate the
classroom Porter’s five strategy forces
to navigate the boardroom every question
you asked yesterday today and will ask
tomorrow can be organized into a
taxonomy of questions how many question
types are there there are 6 that is easy
how many answer types are there that is
hard it is unbelievable but true we live
in a world with a beer taxonomy but no
taxonomy of answers wouldn’t it be great
if you had a list of the right answers
to navigate the kitchen table the
boardroom the classroom or anywhere the
important questions where I asked when
your young daughter asks you what is
beauty will you be ready to provide the
right metaphor when your coworker who is
Miss quota for three quarters in a row
asks you how do I close the deal will
you be ready to provide the right
procedure I’m here to share with you a
list of six answers to navigate the
world more than that I have come to
believe there is an intelligence an
ability to provide the right answers
that each of us can develop I refer to
this ability as answer intelligence aq
for short a Q is the ability to provide
the right answers to important questions
today we’ll take a small first step
towards rebalancing our understanding of
questions and answers the focus of aq is
answers but no science of answers can
exist without an examination of
questions we
ask questions to benefit others we ask
questions to benefit ourselves answers
are unambiguous in their intent answers
are hand up answers are selfless high aq
is the ability to elevate your answers
when the stakes are most important and
the questions are most important I’d
like to share with you today the four
most important habits of elevated
answers that you can use today high aq
habit one is answer twice both sides
must win we know great communicators win
both sides of the brain great
communicators answer twice communicators
with high aq answer the why what and how
questions two times so appeal to the
left and right side of the brain the
left side of the brain is logical
objective and sequential it prefers
answers such as theory concept and
procedure the right side of the brain is
creative subjective and random it
prefers answers such as story metaphor
in action let’s look at three examples
to illustrate answer twice I had a good
fortune to interview a highly decorated
and experienced Navy SEAL I asked him
why he was successful he answered this
why question with the story he explained
to me his mission was to capture a KL
insurgents in the Philippines who had
beheaded locals he approached the hut of
the of the village elder and his heavily
armored Hummer he proceeded to exit the
Hummer and then he took off his body
armor he proceeded to go directly inside
the hut and sit on the floor next to the
village elder the meeting went well and
several weeks later the village elder
gave over the names of the insurgents
this is a story a story provides an
answer to a cause-and-effect
theory is the logical counterpart to
story according to resource theory there
are six resources that our Navy SEAL
could provide to the village elder at
one extreme he could provide money an
economic resource at the other is other
extreme he could provide involvement a
type of social support our experience he
identified that in all of his years of
service the most important resources he
could provide to others in order to
achieve success and accomplish his
missions was status our experience seal
provided respect her status when he took
off his body armor as he exited the
Hummer and said directly next to the
village elder in contrast an
inexperienced seal would do the opposite
and actually erode status the
inexperienced seal might leave leave his
body armor on go inside and sit directly
opposite from the village elder
I interviewed a top-rated golf
instructor and she had a very
interesting niche she taught siyoung
pitchers the game of golf one of these
pitchers asked what is dynamic balance
associate at the golf swing dynamic
balance relates to the physics of the
golf swing this what question can be
answered twice first the concept of
dynamic balance can be defined dynamic
balance relates to the point of balance
in your body and how that point of
balance changes as you rotate through
the golf swing a metaphor can also be
used to explain the concept of dynamic
balance the swing in golf is like the
blank in baseball if you think the
swinging golf is like the swing in
baseball like I did you’re wrong
the swinging golf is like the throw in
baseball that dynamic balance is the
same perhaps you google this question if
you did Google returned something called
a recipe a recipe is a procedure of
sequence actions procedures and actions
are related but distinct
when we refer to the ten steps of baking
a cake we’re outlining a procedure that
appeals to the left side of the brain
when we identify any given step of that
procedure such as cracking an egg we are
identifying an action that appeals to
the right side of the brain high aq
habit – is answering context for any
given answer to be effective it must
imagine you’re at a job interview you
were in the lobby now you’ve been taken
to the interview room
awaiting the interview you’ve done your
research and you know the company has
employee turnover issues the interviewer
enters the room and the pointed
questions are asked you did your
homework you throw down like a hammer
with your best theory of employee
turnover and your best story of how you
reduce turnover as a manager now imagine
the context changes no problem you did
your homework you throw down like a
hammer with your best theory of employee
performance and your best story where
you increased performance as a manager
more generally all six answers must
reflect the context when and where if
you want to get the job high aq heavy
three is provide complimentary answers
any given answer can be complemented by
two additional answers I’ll explain this
is not a mere circle this is a
circumflex a circular ordering of
variables which holds that any given
answers can be complemented by two
adjacent answers I’ll explain let’s
imagine we’re all mentors and we’re now
sitting and mentoring training and you
the trainer should define the concept of
mentoring mentoring consists of career
supports social support and role
modeling to help a mentee grow
additionally the trainer should identify
implicit questions you have
you may be scratching your head thinking
how do I provide social support the
trainer should identify procedures to
implement mentoring for example an
open-door policy may be particularly
effective but to facilitate social
support a second complimentary answer
can be provided again you may be
wondering to yourself why am I sitting
here in this training I’m a busy person
I’m important I have other things to do
the trainer needs to establish a
theoretical relationship between
mentoring and desired outcomes the
trainer needs to point out that
mentoring is positively related to
mentee satisfaction mentee career
progression job performance in so doing
the mentor understands how important the
role is in so doing you’re all in in
some providing complimentary answers
reinforce each other in this example the
mentor knows what to do how to do and
why to do it
a circumplex also holds that opposite
answers resist each other consider this
example we go to the movies for the
stories we go to the movie of Julia
Child’s for a life story not to learn
the steps in her recipes for that we go
to PBS high aq habit for is answer with
style there are three answer styles that
each appeal two distinct communication
goals the goal of the relational style
is to make a personal and emotional
connection the goal of the practical
style is to achieve a tangible task the
goal of the analytical style is to
when you paint your masterpiece you will
have three colors to blend together
let’s take a look at the answer styles
of Steve Jobs and Apple during critical
points in their history let’s analyze
the original iPhone using the analytical
style we
want to do is make a leapfrog product
that is way smarter than any mobile
device has ever been and super easy to
Apple is smart and easy
why does Apple exist Steve Jobs the
force of gravity so strong he bent our
expectations for the company could
achieve companies typically achieve or
stripe or profits or seemingly
enlightened goals like loyalty Apple’s
goal love if the iPhone is smart and
easy you will love it
let’s get emotionally connected to
iTunes using the relational style iTunes
is a jukebox for you Millennials let me
introduce you to a jukebox a jukebox
with smart technology in its day it
could store an entire record collection
and serve up each record like magic and
it was easy just put in a dime and when
the music played you loved it let’s take
a hands-on tour of the Apple Store using
the practical style and it’d be great if
when you went to buy a computer or after
you bought a computer if you had any
questions you could ask a genius well
that’s what we’ve got this is called the
Genius Bar how do we work with Apple we
use the Genius Bar because it is smart
and easy and we love it for those of you
keeping track one question remains
who should ask the questions and who
should provide the answers research and
education has consistently shown from
kindergarten to higher ed that teachers
ask most the questions this same
research also holds that students only
learn when they ask the questions
in the mountains that you climb I hope
that you inspire others to ask the
important questions and when these
important questions are asked I hope
you’re ready to provide a hand up I hope
you’re ready to provide elevated answers
for meaningful change I hope that you have high aq thank you
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