Richard Feynman

Better questions

Good sales questions are measured by the level of curiosity they spark in your buyer. Buyers will create a budget where none exists when there’s a meaningful-enough problem, that’s worth solving.

  • Why do they need it?

  • How is it different?

  • Why is it better?

  • What happens if they don’t get it?

Knowledge is having the right answers. Intelligence is asking the right questions. Wisdom is knowing when to ask the right questions.
— Professor Richard Feynman

Being aware and open to change

Your brain tells you that you are safe with people who look, think and act similar, this is one of our many and various unconscious biases. These learned stereotypes are very powerful as they are so deeply ingrained into our persona, for example, the biases we all hold around race, religion, gender, power, and privilege structures. Playing on our unconscious biases and fears is the bread and butter of both political and marketing campaigns. In order to ‘judge’ without undue fear, you need to look at your own biases and the fears that sit under them. I think we can overcome our unconscious biases by becoming aware and being open to change.

Life is too short to worry about stupid things. Have fun. Fall in love. Regret nothing and do not let people bring you down. Study, think, create and grow. Teach yourself and teach others.
— Professor Richard Feynman

Yesterday morning, I asked a woman if she needed help in carrying her pram (a four-wheeled baby carriage) down the stairs – I have to admit that I would not have asked a man if he were in the same position. I know that my actions were not a problem, they were courteous and friendly but underneath I may have unexamined bias about the difference in roles and capabilities of men and women. Contact me via e-mail and let me know how you deal with your implicit biases.


The chess endgame

One reason I love coaching is you are forced to take a holistic view. Coaches are generalists, who have to obtain a near specialists’ knowledge about a lot of things, for example, from behavioural psychology to political trends. We have to know a little bit about many things and then we must understand how they interact with the methods we are trying to install.

The chessboard metaphor is common throughout therapy to help develop the distinction between an observing self and avoided psychological content. I think that sometimes a well-placed pawn is more powerful than a king.

Knowledge is having the right answers.
Intelligence is asking the right questions.
Wisdom is knowing when to ask the right questions.
— Professor Richard Feynman