“Asking and hearing people’s opinions has a greater effect on them than telling them, ‘good job.’” —Sam Walton
“The leader of the past was a person who knew how to tell. The leader of the future will be a person who knows how to ask.” —Peter Drucker
“A fool finds no pleasure in understanding, but delights in sharing his own opinions.” —King Solomon
“If you ask profound questions, you get profound answers. If you ask shallow questions, you get shallow answers. If you ask no questions, you get no answers at all.” —Bobb Biehl
“The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.” —Henry David Thoreau
“I started my career as a communications consultant working with managers. Most were intelligent, motivated individuals who were having problems communicating with their team. I kept asking myself, ‘Why aren’t they as effective as they want to be?’ The answer came back loud and clear—they were telling, not asking.” —Dorothy Leeds
“Great questions are a much better indicator of future success than great answers.” —Ray Dalio
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” —Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The most Effective Communication is about 20% telling and 80% asking. Most of us have turned this around—80% telling and 20% asking.” —Marilee Adams
“The one who asks questions doesn’t lose his way.” —African proverb
“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” —Steve Jobs
“When you give advice, the brain is basically asleep. If you engage them and ask questions that help them come to their own insights, it comes alive.” —Dr. Henry Cloud
“The art of asking questions is the source of all business success.” —Lolly Daskal
“Every wise man started out by asking many questions.” —Chinese fortune cookie
“You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.” —Naguib Mahfouz
“You don’t have to have all the answers. But what’s not negotiable is that you have the questions.” —Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni
“Did you ask any good questions today, Isaac?” —Nobel Prize winning physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi’s mother’s daily question as she greeted him with after school
“I can always tell how experienced and insightful a prospective consultant, banker, or lawyer is by the quality of their questions and how intently they listen. That’s how simple it is.” —Andrew Sobel and Jerold Panas
“A person’s thoughts are like water in a deep well, but someone with insight can draw them out.” —King Solomon, Proverbs 20:5
“Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.” —David Augsburger
“When I ask people to talk about the best boss they ever had, they always mention one quality: Listening!” —Ken Blanchard
“I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So, if I’m going to learn, I must do it by listening.” —Larry King
Bob has been on the staff of Cru for 52 years. He currently serves on the U.S. Leadership Development Team and is passionate about seeing leaders grow and multiply their effectiveness. Bob and his wife, Sherry, live in Plano, TX and are blessed with 4 incredible children and 8 remarkable grandchildren.
