John C. Maxwell - Good Leaders Ask Great Questions: Your Foundation for Successful Leadership

Thank you to:

Charlie Wetzel, my writer;

Stephanie Wetzel, for editing the early manuscript and managing my social media;

Audrey Moralez, for her research assistance;

Carolyn Kokinda, for typing the first draft; and

Linda Eggers, my executive assistant.

Q uestionsfor forty years Ive asked questions on the subject of leadership. You might think that as time has gone by, and Ive received thousands of answers, questions have become less important to me. But the opposite has been true. The more questions I ask, the more valuable I recognize them to be. Without the wise counsel and insightful answers Ive received to questions over those decades, I wonder where I would be today. Certainly I would not have grown as much or come as far. The people who cared enough for me to give me guidance and advice when I asked questions have made a world of difference in my leadership.

Now that Im in the second half of my life, people are asking me questions more and more. I think its because they have come to see me as a father figure in the field of leadership. Thats partly due to my age. But its also because people sense my desire to add value to them and those who are hungry to learn often seek me out.

When I first began teaching leadership, I spent nearly all my time giving lectures. Today, at almost every speaking gig, people want time to ask me questions about leadership, which I welcome. Not only do I enjoy sharing what Ive learned, but answering questions also gives me an opportunity to speak from my heart. As people share their issues and concerns with vulnerability, I try to share my experiences with transparency. I always want to help people who want to make a difference.

Ive come to enjoy and value this experience so much that I wanted to write this book. Its my desire to show the impact that questions have made on my life, share the leadership questions I ask myself and others, and answer questions from people from many countries, backgrounds, and professions.

If you want to be successful and reach your leadership potential, you need to embrace asking questions as a lifestyle. Heres why:

Have you ever failed to ask a question because you thought it might be dumb? I have! Too many times Ive allowed my desire not to look foolish to keep me from gaining knowledge that I needed. Richard Thalheimer, the founder of the Sharper Image, once asserted, It is better to look uninformed than to be uninformed. For that reason we need to curb our egos and ask questions, even at the risk of looking foolish.

If youre worried that asking questions will make you look bad, let me give you some perspective. I enjoy reading Marilyn vos Savants column in Sundays Parade magazine. Listed in Guinness World Records for Highest IQ, she answers difficult and often bewildering questions from readers. In her column of July 29, 2007, she decided to share questions she found difficult to answer, not because they were too tough, but becausewell, take a look: