You Only Get Answers to the Questions You Ask

Lesson 25 from Leadership Gold

John Maxwell

• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781400275588
• eBook ISBN: 9781400275588
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

Smart leaders learn from their own mistakes. Smarter ones learn from others' mistakes—and successes.  

John C. Maxwell wants to help you become the smartest leader you can be by sharing Chapter 25,You Only Get Answers To The Questions You Ask, of Leadership Gold with you. After nearly forty years of leading, Maxwell has mined the gold so you don't have to. Each chapter contains detailed application exercises and a "Mentoring Moment" for leaders who desire to mentor others using the book. 

Gaining leadership insight is a lot like mining for gold. You don't set out to look for the dirt. You look for the nuggets. You'll find them here.

YOU ONLY GET ANSWERS TO
THE QUESTIONS YOU ASK

Confidence can be defined as that uplifting, energizing, positive feeling that you possess—before you truly understand your situation. After graduating from college, I went into my first job with great confidence. I felt I was ready to take on the challenge of leading a small congregation. I thought it would be easy. But then I faced the reality of leading volunteers. It was so frustrating. I found out that I was not ready for the task. And I had no clue how to get ready.

I had so many questions, but my biggest problem was that my ego would not allow me to ask them. Instead, I pretended to know what I was doing. Believe me, that is not a great recipe for successful leadership! After a few months I became desperate. A Chinese proverb says, “He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask is a fool forever.” I finally concluded that it would be better to look uninformed than to be uninformed. I decided to risk being a fool for five minutes and began asking questions.

I’d like to be able to tell you that this instantly solved all my problems and turned everything around for me. But it didn’t. Why? Initially my questions were not the right ones. But that didn’t matter because I was also asking them of the wrong people! Fortunately, in time I discovered that if I persevered and kept asking questions, I would start figuring out the right questions to ask. And if I kept asking the right questions, it would eventually lead me to the right people. The process took me years. But here’s the really good news: when you know the right questions and go to the right people with them, you will ultimately get the right answers!

THE QUEST FOR THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

Not everyone discovers this secret. I read a hilarious story about three very competitive brothers who left home to make their fortunes, and each of them did very well. One day when they were all together, they started to brag about the gifts they had recently given to their elderly mother.

The first said, “I built Mom a big house.”

The second said, “Well, I got her the best Mercedes they make along with her own driver.”

“I’ve got you both beat,” said the third. “You know how Mom enjoys the Bible, and you know she can’t see very w...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT
• CONTENTS
• DEDICATION
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• YOU ONLY GET ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS YOU ASK
• NOTES
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR