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1-Page Summary of Spark
Introduction
In his book, “A More Beautiful Question”, Warren Berger found that successful people are all exceptionally good at asking questions.
Questions are important. They have been at the core of Western thought since Socrates, and many great thinkers like Einstein were curious. In addition, research has shown that top executives ask lots of questions because they adapt quickly to changes in a changing marketplace and succeed.
In today’s world, change is constant. Therefore, the ability to ask the right questions allows us to embrace it and move forward. The book will help you do that by teaching you how to ask the right questions in your life.
The Power of Inquiry
In 1976, Van Phillips asked himself why they couldn’t make a better artificial foot. He enrolled in an aprosthetics program at Northwestern University and spent 10 years building better feet. He learned from each model that he built and asked new questions every time. What didn’t work here? Why did this foot break?
Phillips didn’t know what he was doing, which is a good thing. He just kept asking questions and trying new things, which led to his breakthroughs. This happens in science all the time; it’s called curiosity-driven research.
When faced with a problem, people tend to ask questions that help them better understand the issue. The first question is usually “why?”
Netflix founder Reed Hastings wondered why he had to pay late fees when returning rented videos. Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia was frustrated with the difficulty of finding a hotel room during a conference in his town. Many breakthroughs happen because someone gets fed up with the status quo and asks, “Why?”
When you encounter a problem, it’s important to ask why. When you find out the root cause of the problem, start brainstorming solutions that could solve that particular issue. Keep asking yourself how each solution would work until you come up with something good. This is what inventor Dean Kamen did when he came up with his Segway Human Transporter (HT). He asked himself “Why are there so many car accidents?” and then started thinking about ways to prevent them from happening in the first place. His HT was one of those ideas and has since been widely accepted as an efficient alternative means of transportation for people who want to avoid traffic jams on highways or other congested areas such as airports or shopping malls.
Inventing something new is a lot of work. It can take hundreds of attempts before you get it right. For example, the inventor of Flex-Foot had to make many prototypes until he could finally create one that worked well enough for others to use as well. This invention changed how prosthetics are made and led to further innovations that helped people with disabilities do amazing things like climb mountains and even compete in the Olympics!
Phillips was good at asking questions because he had a natural inclination to do so. However, most of us don’t ask as many questions as we should and that’s why we’re not as successful. He became this way by being inquisitive throughout his life.
Why We Stop Questioning
Research shows that children ask 40,000 questions during the period of rapid brain growth between the ages of two and five. Once they start school, they begin to ask fewer questions. As they get older, their questioning decreases even more.
Schools are part of the problem when it comes to encouraging questions. Teachers have a limited amount of time and can’t afford to veer off course, especially in response to inquisitive students. As kids get older, they stop asking about things because they fear looking stupid in front of their peers. Classroom dynamics mean that teachers ask all the questions while students listen passively. And rote memorization doesn’t foster an atmosphere for questioning or inquiry.
