Clarke-Epstein C. - 78 Important Questions Every Leader Should Ask and Answer (2002)(en)

78 Important Questions

Every Leader Should

Ask and Answer

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78 Important Questions

Every Leader Should

Ask and Answer

CHRIS CLARKE-EPSTEIN

A M E R I C A N M A N A G E M E N T A S S O C I AT I O N

N e w Y o r k A t l a n t a B r u s s e l s B u e n o s A i r e s C h i c a g o L o n d o n M e x i c o C i t y S a n F r a n c i s c o S h a n g h a i T o k y o T o r o n t o W a s h i n g t o n , D . C .

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Clarke-Epstein, Chris.

78 important questions every leader should ask and answer / Chris p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-8144-7162-5

1.Leadership. 2. Communication in organizations. 3. Corporate culture.

4.Public relations. I. Title: Seventy eight important questions every leader should ask and answer. II. Title.

HD57.7. C539 2002 658.4'092--dc21

2002008308

© 2002 Chris Clarke-Epstein. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

Printing number

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my mother, June Blomberg, who raised me in an environment that encouraged me to ask questions…lots of them.

To Stel Epstein and Miriam Phillips, who read everything I write and have the courage to ask, “What were you thinking?”

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contents

PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .XIII

How to Use This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XV

A Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XVII

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XIX

INTRODUCTION: ANSWERS, YOU WANT ANSWERS . . . . . . . . . . .1 The Power and Problem of Why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1 QUESTIONS LEADERS NEED TO ASK THEMSELVES . . . . . . . . . .		.9
1.	What does leadership mean? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	11
2.	How do you feel about being a leader?. . . . . . . . . . . . . .	13
3.	What do you want to be remembered for? . . . . . . . . . . .	15

VIII C O N T E N T S

4. Are you happy?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 5. What are you afraid of? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 6. Are you sure you want to ask questions?. . . . . . . . . . . . 21

WHAT DID YOU LEARN? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

CHAPTER ONE WORKSHEET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

2 QUESTIONS LEADERS NEED TO ASK CUSTOMERS . . . . . . . . . .		.27
7.	Why do you do business with us?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	30
8.	Why do you do business with our competition?. . . . . .	31
9.	How and when have we made it hard for you to
	do business with us? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	33
10.	What will you need from us in the future? . . . . . . . . . .	35
11.	If you were me, what’s one thing you’d change about
	my organization? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	37
12.	How can we effectively tell you that we’re grateful
	for your business? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	39
WHAT DID YOU LEARN? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		41
CHAPTER TWO WORKSHEET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		42

3 QUESTIONS LEADERS NEED TO ASK EMPLOYEES

ABOUT THE BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 13. How do we make money?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 14. How does your work contribute to our success?. . . . . . 50 15. How could we save money? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 16. How could you make your job more effective?. . . . . . . 54

17. What’s the most important thing you know about our customers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

18. What’s something we could offer to our customers?. . . 57

C O N T E N T S IX

19. Who do you see as our competition, and what do you know about them? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

WHAT DID YOU LEARN? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

CHAPTER THREE WORKSHEET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

4 DEEPER QUESTIONS LEADERS NEED TO ASK EMPLOYEES . . . . .63
20.	What gets in the way of your doing your job? . . . . . . .	67
21.	What does our leadership team do that gets in the
	way of your doing your job? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	69
22.	What’s a recent management decision you didn’t
	understand? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	71
23.	How could we communicate management decisions
	more effectively?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	73
24.	If you could change one thing about our organization’s
	collective behavior, what would it be?. . . . . . . . . . . . . .	75
25.	What’s a potential benefit we could offer that would be
	helpful to you? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	77
26.	What is it like to work on a team in our organization?. 79
27.	How do you feel at the start of your workweek?. . . . . .	81
28.	How do you feel at the end of your workweek? . . . . . .	83
29.	What volunteer work do you do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	84
30.	What makes you proud of working as a part of our
	organization?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	86
31.	What’s something you’ve learned in the past week? . . .	88
32.	What brings you joy in your work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	90
33.	What do you do just for the fun of it? . . . . . . . . . . . . .	92
34.	What gives your life meaning? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	94
WHAT DID YOU LEARN? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		95
CHAPTER FOUR WORKSHEET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		96