Ask a Question, Prior
Perhaps you watched a certain federal presidential debate last night. Perhaps you’re not entirely sure what to think. Or how it became this way. Or how a country that is such a wonderful unicorn could be represented by two bumbling baboons.
The way out is to get curious.
To ask good questions.
Today I’m introducing a new shorter column that will be released occasionally, and will address curiosities of mine that I’m not quite sure what to do with yet. One segment - a short read.
Now, I am a throw back of sorts and I believe long-form is forever. I much prefer longer deep-dives, often in print, but I know that folks also want shorter content. If that’s you - welcome.
They will always be published on the main feed and I will number them off so I can refer to them as such.
Enjoy, and thank you for reading.
Barbecue sauce.
Ask a Question, Prior
By day I work on interesting economic development problems. The whole game is about asking the right questions. Asking the right question unlocks the essence of the problem, and understanding the problem is the key to making the next best decision.
The true test of discovery is whether you understand the problem from the perspective of whoever has that problem. Not your perspective of the problem - theirs.
It’s why I end my email signature with this quote:
“The secret is to understand the viewpoint of others.”
At first glance, it may look like the quote of a famous, bleeding heart liberal, with obvious intentions of conveying purity, piety, or righteousness. It isn’t. It’s attributed to Henry Ford and was found, by Michael Lewis, on a plaque behind the desk of a former German finance minister.
Now why would it be there? Now that is a good question.
Henry Ford. German. Finance Minister. Doesn’t exactly sound like Woodstock does it?
That’s because it is not a socio-emotional quote - it is, in fact, a most practical one!
The secret is to understand the viewpoint of others because, when you know what they believe - when you know how they feel and experience the problem - you know a lot. You know what to do next. That gives you both great leverage and great opportunity to do something right. There is great joy in doing things right.
If you can repeat this process, ad infinitum, for a painfully long period of time, then you have the chance to do good work. Maybe even great work.
If there are any rambunctious youths reading this then I’m going to make a request of you - calm down. 5 years, minimum. You don’t know what you don’t know and it takes that long to know. If it’s something like building a company then your fuck-around-and-find-out timeline is more like 7 years. Stay the course young one.
Compounding = consistency over time. I’m still trying to digest how inescapable, and true, that is.
In True Detective Season 4, Detective Liz Danvers puts the new boy, Prior, through his paces.
“Wrong question…
That’s right. Keep askin…
Okay…what’s the question?
No. Ask again.”
There are plenty of questions worth asking, but how do we ask the right question? Ah! Indeed. Asking the right question. Now that’s a thing worth doing.
The goal is to ask the question that gets to the root of the first principle. Once we’ve done that we ask the next best question until we discover what ought to be discovered.
We wake up everyday with a series of questions, and the best we’ll ever do on planet earth is to become less wrong over time.
Some examples, in principle:
On the sun and whether it is dangerous to us or not, the question might be - if that’s true, why would our pupils be black?
On the question of public money, it might be - why can we continue to get funded even if our clients fail?
On investment, it might be - why do we pay an advisor 2% if almost none of them beat the index?
On the question of health, it might be - why are we the sickest people on earth and yet we spend the most on healthcare?
There are modern barriers to thinking this way. The socio-political temperature is too high.
When our collective temperature is high even questions become inflammatory, because the whole system is already inflamed. What would have been the path out of this mess (the question) is seen and received as an attack of some kind.
This is no good.
We’re entering an era of having to solve hard problems. If it takes hard work, it requires curiosity, and being curious means asking good questions.
Start by being aware of your immediate surroundings - of where and when you are. Of how entirely rare every moment of your life is and how unbelievable it is that any of it works at all. Consider how the chances of you being alive as you are infinitely small. Impossibly small. Small to the degree that there is no real point in trying to understand it beyond philosophical fun.
Then ask the right question.
Next time, the combination of your natural gifts and early inclinations . The formula for doing great work.
“Curiosity is lying in wait for every secret”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
See you on the path.
-MG