Leading with Questions

How Leaders Find the Right Solutions by Knowing What to Ask

By: Michael J. Marquardt

Narrated by: Michael J. Marquardt

Many leaders are unaware of the amazing power of questions. Our conversations may be full of requests and demands, but all too often we are not asking for honest and informative answers, and we don't know how to listen effectively to responses. When leaders start encouraging questions from their teams, however, they begin to see amazing results. Knowing the right questions to ask - and the right way to listen - will give any leader the skills to perform well in any situation, effectively communicate a vision to the team, and achieve lasting success across the organization.

Thoroughly revised and updated, Leading with Questions will help you encourage participation and teamwork, foster outside-the-box thinking, empower others, build relationships with customers, solve problems, and more. Michael Marquardt reveals how to determine which questions will lead to solutions to even the most challenging issues. He outlines specific techniques of active listening and follow-up, and helps you understand how questions can improve the way you work with individuals, teams, and organizations.

This new edition of Leading with Questions draws on interviews with thirty leaders, including eight whose stories are new to this edition. These interviews tell stories from a range of countries, including Singapore, Guyana, Korea, and Switzerland, and feature case studies from prominent firms such as DuPont, Alcoa, Novartis, and Cargill. A new chapter on problem-solving will help you apply questions to your toughest situations as a leader, and a new "Questions for Reflection" section at the end of each chapter will help you bring Marquardt's message into all of your work as a leader.

Now more than ever, Leading with Questions is the definitive guide for becoming a stronger leader by identifying - and asking - the right questions.

©2005 Michael J. Marquardt (P)2009 Gildan Media

A Good Book?

Leaders need to ask more questions and this book is a good introduction to that aspect.

Excellent for today's leaders

Today's leaders must read this book, leading with questions helps people become thinkers and therefore start working more independently

Yes, Asking insightful questions is important

Solid concept on how to leverage questions to instill creativity, precipitate critical thinking, and incite activity. This isn't a book about how to interview people, as "leading" doesn't translate to "starting with". Rather, it means that questions can help leaders get better results from the people they lead.

Some of the chapters get repetitive, but overall a useful guide to effectively empowering your team with questions that empower vs. distract.

Start around chapter four

Really a great book but it started slowly, the voice takes some getting used to, but the content is really good!

Not for academic environment

If you are looking for a company setting, it might help. The strategies are very general not for specific cases, so I don’t learn from the book.