Why is the sky blue?
Why do people die?
Why do you want me to stop asking why?
From age two up to age five our learning is irrepressible. Our questions are endless, challenging and full of wonder. Then we stop our tireless asking, to the relief of most adults. Why?
When was the last time you questioned why something is the way it is? There are a number of reasons we stop being so inquisitive, including:
We learn asking lots of questions often equates to making the other person upset, especially if they don’t know the answers.
We learn to believe asking questions means we will be judged as stupid or “less than.”
In school we are rewarded for having the answer, not asking great questions.
We believe knowledge is the same thing as wisdom.
We believe questions must end with singular, correct answers, rather than providing a doorway to a more expansive awareness of all that is possible.
It is time we returned to a more childlike approach to business and to life. It is time we started asking more questions and challenging each other, lovingly, with the simple question: Why?
We believe questions must end with singular, correct answers, rather than providing a doorway to a more expansive awareness of all that is possible.
“Why is it time to ask why?” you say, playing along. The reasons are many, and here are a few:
No innovation is possible until someone questions the status quo.
Technology is moving at such a rapid pace (just look up CRISPR DNA modification) if we don’t start asking more and better questions right now we will become culturally adrift.
Allowing someone else to define your ‘why’ robs the world of your unique gifts and insights, and is deeply dissatisfying.
Most of the horrors of man inflicted on the human race and upon our planet have happened because we didn’t stop to ask, “Why?”
You cannot connect with another person, organization or entity, unless you ask (and then actively listen to) why they think, believe or do what the do.
Even so, many of us are too afraid to risk challenging what we believe is the safety and certainty of “Because I said so,” or “That’s just the way it is.” Asking why means stepping out from behind our proverbial mother’s skirts and owning our successes and our failures as we navigate the path no one else can navigate for us.
So, go ahead: Ask. Then treat every answer you receive as the gift of inspiration it is.