A Good Question

A guest post by Jason Green, CEO & Cofounder at Upward Farms

I’ve been contemplating my Primary Question recently. As a person and as a founder, my environment has changed drastically in the past year or so (and not just because of COVID).

On the personal front, I’m a dad with a young child at this magical age where he’s absorbing everything and changing constantly. Day-to-day he’s picking up new words, new skills, new jokes… finding new adventures that tend to make my heart stop. I intuitively ask myself who I want to be as a parent, what am I putting in and what outcomes am I working towards. It is as a parent that I’ve experienced the highest level of natural, instinctive intentionality.

Being a founder, or any leader (or generally, human), comes with the same basic question: who do I want to be to myself and to others. As a founder perhaps even more quickly than as a parent, the circumstances change, compelling me to change. Just over the last few weeks and months, I was unceremoniously fired from several jobs at the company, replaced by far more capable new colleagues (with my great relief and gratitude), and now find myself wearing a bunch of new hats. This level of change presents big “who am I?” questions.

I was introduced to the concept of the Primary Question by Tony Robbins. It resonated with me. As a scientist by training and all around curious cat, I’ve got a lot of questions. Questions lead to answers. Answers are interesting, but questions set the course and hold the power.

The Primary Question is what I ask myself each time I place my focus, energy, and intentions. The question sets my modus operandi, so to speak.

Going back a bit more than a year to my first encounter with the Primary Question, I could, at that time, feel the conflict between my then Primary Question and what I really wanted out of life. I began to understand what my question was — “How can I get this right?” — and how loaded it was. Success oriented, but so… binary, oppositional, burdensome. I realized I had never decided what question I wanted, it had just kind of emerged, become. I decided to choose a new question.

With some exploration, I elevated my Primary Question to “How can we learn and grow together even more right now?”. The difference between optimizing in a moment for rightness vs learning is night and day. As a colleague and collaborator, I was invigorated by this new question, committed to this intention. To myself, I was kinder and more vulnerable. I have a tendency to hold myself to sometimes impossibly high standards — I imagine another founder or two could relate to this. While the constant striving of “How can I get this right?” has some survival instinct and benefit, it may not be the right gear for all speeds. But learning and growing? That’s something we can all get behind.

This newish Primary Question has benefitted me for about a year. But recently, I’ve wondered if this is still the right question for me. “How can we learn and grow together even more right now?” makes probably 80% of my interactions better. But I’m now finding myself limited by this question. I have more to give.

The new question that’s been flashing neon in my head is “How can I be of even greater service right now?”. It’s kinda basic. And I see that as a good thing. I’m asking myself, how can I be more present, more helpful, more generous, more impactful, more here for you right now?

What’s your Primary Question?

Jason Green
CEO & Cofounder at Upward Farms

Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation, and agriculture.

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