The Power of Stupid

"What a stupid question!" Ouch!! 😬

To be fair, who wants to be known as a person who asks silly questions?

This may come as a surprise but when we're confused about something, generally other people are too. But we're all afraid to ask the question and be the only stupid one in the room. We wait, hoping for enlightenment and, instead, get further behind!

What qualifies as a stupid question? It's one which seems to question the obvious. By the way, we're not talking about asking about something which was already said - but we just weren't listening at the time!

The obvious is often not so obvious. By having the courage to ask "stupid questions" we can make progress, improve processes and it's where insights can come from. This is how design thinking works.

People who know a lot about something seldom query the basics of their knowledge. And every so often, a stupid question sparks a basic and important reconsideration.

"That's the way things are done around here", have you ever heard that? In jobs, on committees, in all walks of life.

Changing our paradigm, even for something small, can make a big difference and have a positive ripple effect.

I remember a seemingly insignificant question which ended up making a big difference in my daily life when my kids were very small. It was normal for them to pull out all the toys and scatter them far and wide around the house and garden. I never asked or expected them to tidy them all up again. In fact, my own belief was that they were incapable of this at such a tender age. Instead, I would gather everything up again at the end of the day (and feel exhausted!) - ready to be strewn around again the following day.

Enter Sarah, a parent friend who had dropped in for coffee one day. She asked me why I was emptying the dishwasher. It turned out that her 2-year-old was helping to do this job every day! I was stunned; it opened my eyes to how I had been making unfounded assumptions (and a rod for my own back to go with them!). We made a few changes after that which made a big difference to the daily scatterings. Not perfect, but definitely better ;)

So, ask the question, seek the clarification, don't wait!