wisdom is knowing the question, not the answer

The unexamined life is not worth living
Socrates

Life trains us to value answers over questions. No one topped the class because they asked all the questions correctly. Careers progress because we have the right response, solve problems, know stuff. Plus, being right feels great. An instant dopamine hit of superiority and self-congratulation. Yet, when we think we have the answer, we close our minds to alternatives. Sometimes, in our haste to get things done we jump straight to solutions without properly interrogating the issue at hand.

The trouble is, leaders rarely deal with simple challenges which require simple answers. If you do, you’re probably operating at the wrong level. Strategic thinking by its nature entails trade-offs, timing, stakeholders, shareholders… the list goes on. There are no answers at the back of the book, no line manager to pat you on the back. There’s a reason people find it hard to focus when faced with such complexity.

Anyone who holds a true opinion without understanding is like a blind man on the right road

Although the nature of the distractions may have changed, the search for light and clarity amid the grey-black ambiguities of existence is an ancient pursuit. Fortunately, an answer – or at least the path to one – can be found at the very birth of philosophy.

Socrates was a stonemason’s son with no money, power or political influence. No writings, treatise or tracts of his remain. We know little of his actual views. Yet, he is, in Nietzsche’s words, ‘the turning-point, the vortex of world history’.

Socrates sought to improve people’s understanding, but he didn’t provide answers. In his lifetime, the oracle at Delphi proclaimed him the wisest of all men, yet he rarely offered a perspective. Instead, he gave us a way of thinking about problems. He taught us how to question.

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing

In our information-saturated age, his core lesson is more relevant than ever. Socrates believed that while human beings spend their lives in search of what to do and how to do it, they rarely stop to ask why we do things. We don’t find the truth by accumulating facts, we find it by thinking critically, by questioning. If we take the time to really understand the assumptions and preconceptions that underlie a problem, the solution will reveal itself. It is this willingness to reflect deeply and really examine the foundations of our beliefs that kickstarted Western thought, philosophy, and science.

Also known as the Socratic Method, Socratic Questioning is deep and disciplined. Socrates used it to explore complex ideas, get to the truth of things, open up issues and problems, uncover assumptions, analyse concepts, distinguish what we know from what we don’t know, and follow through logical implications of thought. This remains the best way to guide a group to the answer for a complex problem. Facilitation guru Ingrid Bens, some 2,400 years later, says, ‘Questioning is the most fundamental facilitator tool. Questions can be used to test assumptions, probe for hidden information, challenge assumptions, and ratify for consensus. Effective questioning encourages people to look past symptoms to get at root causes.’

Without the willingness to question deeply, it is hard to imagine someone being a good critical thinker, let alone a great leader. The goal is not to find flaws in what you’re told, but to find the latent truths and new ideas concealed in the broken ones.

I offer myself alike to rich and poor; I ask questions, and whoever wishes may answer and hear what I say.

Socrates saw himself as an outsider, a ‘gadfly’ stinging the people into action, like a whistle-blower calling on the inconsistencies and illusions of Athenian life. He engaged across all levels of society and famously valued the wisdom of craftsmen above politicians. His notorious questioning of the wisdom of Athenian authorities ultimately cost him his life. For leaders, it’s not enough to ask questions, we need to be open to being questioned too. Are you creating an environment where anyone can speak up?

In business, the examined life means not doing things because ‘that’s how it’s always been’, and always being open to new ideas, no matter where from. At risk of excommunication from The Consulting Magic Circle, on inspection you’ll find most classic management tools are, in fact, just a set of questions: the 5 Whys, the 5 forces, the 4 Ps, the 3 Cs, SWOT… You get the picture.

So, next time you’re struggling for an answer, remember that you know nothing. Ask yourself: ‘Am I asking the right question? Why do I believe that? What does that really mean? What assumptions have I left unchallenged?’

Then ask everyone else.

To find out more please get in touch / +44 (0) 20 7298 7878

More about the author