Always ask the stupid questions
As a rookie journalist my first learned professional acronym was KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
The second bit of wordplay revolved around the word ‘assume’ — that assume means making an ass of u and me.
Feed the reader with language they understand and don’t jump to conclusions without the facts to support them.
Facts! Imagine — in this day and age!
Buoyed with such wisdom I have always steamed into meetings as the dumb dude. Whereas most people in meetings are either asleep or on some vanishingly successful empire-building crusade, I’m the one who goes where my contemporaries often fear to tread by asking the stupid simple stuff.
We’ve got four options, Thack, they might say. I’m not sure what those four options are, or the implications. So I’ll ask them to pretend I’m a four year-old and to explain them to me. Sure, anyone else might worry that this makes them look ridiculous. As a well established ritual I hold dear, it’s just part of my MO.
What are the alternatives? Keep your mouth shut, assume, miss a crucial point, go off on a tangent, and build a house of cards.
It’s not made easier by the fact most people these days seem to overlook the value of active listening — one of the greatest assets of the professional individual yet something consigned to history by the vast majority. Active listening helps you reflect what you’re hearing which, by reflecting to your opposite number, helps you remember what you’ve heard.
Asking the stupid questions reminds me of that quote that goes along these lines:
If I train them, they’ll leave — and I’ll be throwing money away.
To which the sage respondent counters:
If you don’t, they might stay. And you’ll be much worse off…
If you don’t ask the stupid questions, you’ll never know. Ask them, and you’ll be opening up a box of wisdom that everyone else round the table will appreciate. You win logic and their respect.
At your next meeting, don’t hold back. Leave with no loose ends and all the answers. That’s the secret sauce to being a high-performing professional worthy of my respect.
