What are we not asking?

Our education system rewards us for having the answer. We’re conditioned that looking smart means shooting a hand in the air and saying what the teacher (or boss) wants us to say. For many of us, knowing the answer is what got us to where we are today.

However, if we’re in the business of innovation and responding to an unknown future, knowing the answers is much less useful than knowing the questions. What are the questions we’re not asking? We know what we know, and we know what we don’t know, but what are the unknown unknowns?

Where are the shadows in our understanding of the situation where we need to be looking?

What would it look like if your culture supported asking questions that probe the shadows, more than rewarding clever answers?