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August 10, 2005
Question Answers
Shawn wrote a great post earlier on the importance of "questioning," using as an example Blockbuster, which decided to get into the movie business when an executive asked the CEO in the elevator, "Why do we need to go to the studios to buy movies? Why don't we go to the filmmakers?"
But that just makes me wonder why someone else didn't step on to that elevator and ask, "Why do customers need to come to our stores to rent movies? Why don't we send the movies to our customers?" If someone had asked that question, and been taken seriously, Blockbuster might not have been caught off guard by, and had to play catch up to, that young upstart Netflix.
There's been a lot of talk on this blog about the questions you're bringing with you to the ASAE Conference. Sure, it's a great place to meet people who do similar things and ask questions like, "How do you manage your email marketing programs? Do you send letters with your invoices? Is meeting attendance up or down? Are you as frustrated with your database as we are?"
I have no doubt I'll be asking questions like those. But I can't help but think that the better questions to ask -- of each other and ourselves -- are the deeper ones. The ones that challenge our assumptions about the fundamentals of what we do. The ones that aren't about new business plans, but new business models. The ones that sound kind of crazy. The ones that make us uncomfortable.
Last week I was caught in a typo in the office when I meant to write the phrase "get your questions answered" and accidentally wrote "get your answers questioned."
Here's hoping we all raise some questions about each other's answers at the conference in a couple days.
And hey, did you hear they're going to have 45 bars at the opening reception?
Posted by Kevin Holland at August 10, 2005 11:55 PM
Comments
And if you're looking for opportunities to ponder some deep questions, be sure to come by the "Conversations that Matter" sessions for Micro Associations, Professional Development, Emerging Leaders, and Technology! See the August 8th post earlier post titled "Center Learning Communities Gather in Nashville." You don't have to be a community member to explore these questions with us!
Posted by: Kathi Edwards at August 11, 2005 10:03 AM
45 bars will get you a lot of questions, but unfortunately I don't think they'll be the "deep" kind! Great post.
Posted by: Jamie Notter at August 11, 2005 06:13 AM
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