Catalysing Innovation with Questions with Hal Gregersen

OutsideVoices with Mark Bidwell

In this episode, we are joined by Hal Gregersen, author of The Innovator’s DNA, to discuss his recent book, Questions are the Answer. Hal is a Senior Lecturer in Leadership and Innovation and the Executive Director of the Leadership Center at MIT, and has previously taught at Dartmouth College, The World Economic Forum, and the London Business School.

What was covered

• Why Hal believes most CEOs have trouble asking questions and how to pivot from answer-centric to question-led leadership.
• How to be a better leader by asking the ‘different, better question’ and using the ‘power of the pause’.
• How Hal’s question-first process of reframing of challenges can help us discover the winning solution.

Key Takeaways and Learnings

• Associational thinking: how observing, networking, and experimenting helps the world’s top leaders find novel solutions nobody has thought of before.
• Catalytic questions: why challenging our false assumptions of the world forces us to create new beliefs and act on our questions.
• Question bursts: why receiving no answers to our questions can help us to innovatively solve problems.

Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode

• Get in touch with Hal via email, Twitter or LinkedIn
• Hal's website
• The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators, a book by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen
• Questions Are the Answer: A Breakthrough Approach to Your Most Vexing Problems at Work and in Life, a book by Hal Gregersen
• MIT Leadership Center, website
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a book by Douglas Adams
• Marc Benioff, Chairman & Co-CEO of Salesforce
• Principles: Life and Work, a book by Ray Dalio
• The Seat of the Soul, a book by Gary Zukav
• Player Piano: A Novel, a book by Kurt Vonnegut
• Brief Answers to the Big Questions, a book by Stephen Hawking
• Melinda Gates, co-chair and trustee of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Tony Robbins, website
• Sam Abell, National Geographic photographer