At age four, we’re fueled with curiosity, asking thousands of questions to better grasp what’s going on around us. Already we are aware, at a very fundamental level, that questioning helps us feel our way around a situation and develop entirely new ways of engaging with the world.

    It isn’t long, however, before we enter an educational system that rewards answers more than questions. Consider that the average child between six- to 18-years old asks only one question per one-hour class per month. Contrast that with the average teacher, who peppers kids with 300 to 600 questions a day and waits an average of one second for each reply, and you have a recipe for what I call the “Global Questioning Crisis.”

    As adults, many leaders perpetuate this answer-centric culture, playing it safe as they get things done. But, based on my research and firsthand conversations with the most renowned leaders of our time, high-impact innovators know that they must question to disrupt, or risk being disrupted. As such, they sustain this critical skillset, not just by asking more questions, but by identifying the “hot” questions – ones that are provocative, emotional and downright uncomfortable – while also encouraging those around them to be passionate about the same. Finally, they actively pursue answers to these hot questions by leveraging several key discovery skills – observing, networking, experimenting, and associational thinking.

    For these leaders, questioning is not a means to an end, but the creative intersection where a whole new solution – an innovative moment of truth – can catch fire.

    Leading through questions

    Every year, Cedar Citrus, a co-op citrus farm in South Africa owned by ALG Estates, received frequent visits from a troop of baboons even though the fruit was not yet ripened. Strangley, the baboons tended to frequent one tree more than any other. One year, instead of grumbling about the pestering baboons, Andries Fickster, a worker on the farm, asked, “Why do the baboons keep coming back to this one tree?” He knew even the hungriest baboons were picky eaters and would not eat sour fruit so he compared the fruit to the trees around it. Although the skin was green, the fruit inside was ripe and sweet. Fickster brought this knowledge to the owners, Alwyn and Gerrit van der Merwe and, instead of ripping out the tree to get rid of the raiding baboons, they asked, “How can we use this?”

    Ultimately, the van der Merwe brothers learned the particular tree the baboons were visiting had genetic mutations, causing the fruit to ripen two weeks earlier than all other trees. On top of that, the fruit was much sweeter than the other available fruit. Through this simple question and knowledge transfer between leaders and employees, Cedar Citrus was able to capitalize on the early-ripening trees and double its yearly production.

    In a totally different industry, A.G. Lafley, now chairman and chief executive officer of Procter & Gamble PG -0.35% , was similarly inspired by one question: “What delights our customers?” In search of an answer, he visited various countries, stores and homes to observe and listen to consumers so he could see firsthand what made them happy today and what might delight them tomorrow. This stockpile of consumer insights would play a critical role when he became P&G’s CEO, revitalizing the company under a “consumer is boss” mantra and introducing several innovative new brands like Swiffer and Febreze – while continuing to focus on consumer favorites like Tide.

    Have you asked or been asked an uncomfortable question from a direct report or distant employee in the past week? If the answer is “no,” you may be missing critical information that could help put you one step ahead of the competition.

    Consider the photography world, where questions have played a pivotal force for the past century. The question, “Why can’t I see the picture right away?” from his young daughter reportedly inspired Edwin Land to create the Polaroid camera, removing the “waiting game” from traditional film development. As digital photography disrupted the industry, Fujifilm, Nikon, Sony SNE -1.61% and others continuously asked themselves how they could continue to improve the landscape. They answered this question with constant innovations over the years, from face detection to in-camera red-eye fixes. But struggling Kodak, which ironically invented the digital category, asked too few questions to better achieve the digital and social media synergies behind consumer photography too late. Had Kodak’s leaders ratcheted up their discomfort level by asking and receiving more challenging questions from others, the company may well have sustained its legacy as a key industry player.

    As the wild terrain we’re walking into grows more complex by the day, creating the right conditions for ourselves and others to ask the right questions is critical to unlocking new solutions, in work and in life. Failing to do so stunts our institutional, governmental, organizational and personal growth.

    Hal Gregersen is executive director of the MIT Leadership Center and a senior lecturer in leadership and innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is the author The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators and founder of The 4-24 Project.

    四岁时，我们有无穷的好奇心，会提出成千上万的问题，以了解周遭的世界。我们在很早就意识到，提问题可以帮助我们探索新知，培养一种了解世界的全新方式。

    但很快，我们便进入了一个鼓励回答多于鼓励提问的教育体系。有数据显示，6至18岁的孩子每个月在每一个小时的课堂上平均仅提出一个问题。相比之下，老师们平均每天要向学生们提出300至600个问题，而且等待回答的时间平均只有一秒钟，这便形成了我所说的“全球提问危机”。

    在成年人的世界里，许多领导者为了把事情做好，小心翼翼地坚持着这种以回答问题为中心的文化。但根据我的研究以及与当代著名领导者的直接交流，有影响力的创新者很清楚，他们必须通过提问题来产生破坏力，否则将成为被颠覆的对象。因此，他们一直保持着这种关键的技能，不仅会提出更多问题，而且能够发现“热点”问题——那些挑衅性的、能激发情绪的、令人非常不舒服的问题，他们甚至会鼓励周围的人提问。最后，他们会利用一些关键的发现技能，比如观察、社交、试验和关联思考，来寻找这些热点问题的答案。

    对于这些领导者来说，提问题并非达成目的的手段，而是一种创造性的思想交汇。一个好问题可能将催生一套全新的解决方案，带来创新的关键时刻。

    通过问题找到领先优势

    在南非，ALG Estates旗下一家名为Cedar Citrus的合作型柑橘园，每年都会受到狒狒的骚扰，即便在果子尚未成熟的时候。奇怪的是，成群结队的狒狒们经常光顾其中一棵树。有一年，种植园工人安德烈斯·菲克斯特没有抱怨纠缠不休的狒狒，而是想到这样一个问题：“为什么狒狒们每年都来吃这棵树的果子？”他知道，即便最饥饿的狒狒也非常挑剔，不会吃酸果子，所以他对比了这棵树和周围树上的果子。结果他发现，尽管这棵树的柑橘皮还是绿色的，但里面的果肉已经成熟，味美甘甜。于是，菲克斯特将这个发现告诉了种植园主阿尔文和格利特·范德迈威。范德迈威兄弟并没有选择砍掉那棵树来摆脱狒狒，而是问：“我们如何利用这一发现？”

    最后，范德迈威兄弟发现，狒狒们频繁光顾的那棵树发生了基因突变，使这棵树上的果子比其他果树早熟。除此之外，这棵树结的果子比其他果子更甜。通过这个简单的问题，以及领导者与员工之间的知识交流，Cedar Citrus柑橘园成功利用这些早熟的果树，使柑橘园的年产量翻了一番。

    在一个截然不同的行业，宝洁公司现任董事长兼首席执行官雷富礼，也从一个问题中得到了启发：“什么能给我们的客户带来快乐？”在寻找答案的过程中，他访问了许多国家、店铺和家庭，直接观察和倾听客户，了解他们现在因为什么高兴，未来又有什么能让他们快乐？他所积累的这些客户洞察，在他成为宝洁公司CEO后发挥了关键作用，他坚持“顾客就是上帝”的宗旨，带领公司实现复兴，而且在继续专注于客户最喜爱的品牌（比如汰渍）同时，还推出了许多创新品牌，如Swiffer和纺必适（Febreze）。

    过去一周，你是否曾经提出过或者收到过直接下属或其他员工提出的令人不舒服的问题？如果你的答案是“没有”，你可能错过了可以帮助你在竞争中更进一步的关键信息。

    以摄影界为例，在摄影行业过去一个世纪的发展过程中，问题发挥了关键作用。比如，埃德温·兰德的小女儿反复问“我为什么不能马上看到照片？”，受到这一问题的启发，兰德发明了宝丽来相机，解决了传统胶片需要等待冲洗的问题。随着数字摄影技术对整个行业带来破坏性影响，富士胶片、尼康、索尼等公司不断思考，如何继续改善公司状况。他们对这个问题的回答就是多年的持续创新，比如面部识别，在相机内去除红眼，等等。而颇具讽刺意味的是，发明数码相机的柯达，提出的问题却极少，致使该公司未能更好地挖掘数码与社交媒体的协同效应，最终无力回天。如果柯达公司的领导者能够提出或者倾听其他人提出更有挑战性的问题，以提高他们的不适程度，这家公司或许能延续传奇，继续成为摄影行业的重要一员。

    如今我们所处的环境变得日益复杂，为我们自己和其他人创造提出正确问题的适当条件，对于找到新的解决方案至关重要，不论在工作中还是生活中，均是如此。否则，我们的机构、政府、组织和个人成长都会停滞不前。（财富中文网）

    本文作者赫尔·葛瑞格森为麻省理工学院领导力中心执行主任，麻省理工学院斯隆商学院领导力与创新专业高级讲师。他著有《创新者的基因：掌握破坏性创新的五种技能》一书，是4-24项目的创始人。

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    审校：任文科