Why Kids Learn So Much Faster Than Adults

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“Don’t just teach your children to read. Teach them to question what they read. Teach them to question everything.”

We’ve all been there.

Your professor says something that you don’t understand, or maybe your boss suggested a course of action that you disagreed with. Your hands got sweaty, your heart rate elevated. But, you said nothing. While you were unsure or confused, the fear of ‘looking stupid’ outweighed your desire to simply ask, ‘Why?’

I know I’ve felt this angst many times as a student, and I’ve certainly felt it again as I started out my career. Yet I’ve never really understood this discomfort. Warren Berger’s ‘A More Beautiful Question’ explains why you should overcome these feelings.

Berger believes that by asking questions in both business and life, you can ensure you are pursuing the right solutions and ultimately find yourself on a life path you truly want to pursue.

Filled with research to back his claims, Berger’s novel teaches the reader the importance and need for the questions of: ‘why?’, ‘Why not?’, ‘What if?’, and ‘How?’ to move you from understanding to action, all while pursuing the correct question. While it may sound peculiar, Berger believes that it is the question that actually leads to the best solution. However, questioning is not as simple as it seems, as much of how we are conditioned to think stops us from asking questions.

Throughout our years of regimented schooling, we are taught that memorizing facts and being correct should be our primary focus. Berger, however, intriguingly claims that our ability to question is actually what makes us stand out as a species.

Berger states that it begins with asking ‘why’, as while this is a limited question, it gives you direct answers. It also allows you to begin to see and understand the bias around you and take ownership of a question, deemed contextual inquiry.

Then, to turn those answers into solutions, you could begin to ask, ‘why not’ and ‘what if’. This is the process that begins to spark connective inquiry, as you combine ideas that are not usually presented together.

Asking ‘how’ then drives it home, by helping you create an action plan to move forward.

While this questioning framework was helpful, my most valuable learnings from the book really weren’t around how to move from question to answer. I think most schools and occupations are able to help build and refine these skills. What I thought was most interesting is why we stop asking questions about the most critical parts of our work and life; why we feel hesitant to ask these questions; and the mindset we need to adopt in order to change this.

Berger makes the argument that beyond the school system rewarding memorization over inquiry, we are also taught to stop looking into questions way too early, as we favour action.

Harvard Researcher Paul Harris found that between ages 2 and 5, children ask about 40,000 questions. This inquisitive nature should be used by adults to “question storm” as opposed to just picking one question and beginning to brainstorm solutions immediately. I thought this was an interest way to approach not only problems in business, but innovating as well. By favouring curiosity over certainty, you are able to come up with more creative solutions over time (cue the mandatory Apple, Netflix, and Amazon reference).

My final, and favourite, takeaway from the book came from a saying from the Chief Creative at IDEO, Paul Bennett. He speaks about how he “positions [himself] relentlessly as an idiot”, as being comfortable not knowing is the first part of being able to properly question. Personally, I have always found this to be a struggle, as we aren’t taught to not know. While most young professionals find it rather routine to create a 12-step plan for how to fix something, we often grapple with knowing what we should really be improved upon in the first place. Data may help us find a trend to explore, but without asking the right questions we often end up chasing the wrong solutions entirely.

Overall, this book is about the difference between just simply asking a question, and pursuing one (otherwise known as productive obsession by Eric Maisel). When you are confronted with a problem, even one bigger than yourself, you must decide to take that problem and the question that defines it as your very own. With the many challenges facing our generation, I think Berger’s novel provides a refreshing reminder of the importance of our voice, an idea for where to start for today’s big problems, and giving you the confidence to just ask “why”.

This Executive Summary was contributed by Nicole Plant.

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