Questions that Work: How to Ask Questions That Will Help You Succeed in Any Business Situation [Paperback]

Andrew Finlayson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2001

What's wrong with this picture? On the one hand, a passive, unquestioning attitude is considered detrimental to a person's career and to an organization's growth. On the other hand, focused, probing questions are rarely encouraged, and the skills needed to ask them almost never taught.

Questions That Work is here to change that. Written by a seasoned business reporter and manager, this provocative "questioning manifesto" and practical "how-to" book gives people the insights and tools to ask thoughtful questions in every realm of their professional lives. It is also a powerful tool to help business leaders create a progressive environment where questions flow freely and creatively -- boosting knowledge and performance at all levels of the organization.

Best yet, the book supplies hundreds of pre-prepared, carefully crafted questions that readers can use to find the right job, negotiate the best pay, hire the right team, sell an idea, or change their company.

When companies collapse, it is often a lack of questioning that contributed to the crisis. When careers falter, it is a lack of questions that created the failure. In the words of the author: "Your success depends on what questions you ask. Workers of the world, question!"

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andrew Finlayson (Lafayette, CA) is the news director for KTVU Channel Two in the San Francisco Bay area.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 17 and up
  
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1st edition (May 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814470777
• ISBN-13: 978-0814470770
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #734,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrew Finlayson is the Senior Vice President of Digital Media Strategies at SmithGeiger where he serves as the senior consultant regarding leading edge digital media issues spanning social media, streaming video and mobile news consumption for many top media and digital companies.

He joined SmithGeiger after completing the John S. Knight Fellowship at Stanford University where he studied emerging media technologies with a special emphasis on mobile, social, and streaming video based news concepts. During the fellowship he was a consultant to OurNews.com, the social media intranet of News Corp. He also served as a consultant to Media X, Stanford's catalyst for industry and academic research partnerships on the impact of information and technology on society and was involved in advising start-ups.

Before the fellowship he was the Director of Online Content and Business Development for the Fox Television Stations where he focused on SEO, CMS/video streaming, and internal/external partnerships. He was promoted to this position after being the vice president and news director for Fox Chicago duopoly WFLD-WPWR where the station was a finalist for best local TV website from Editor & Publishing. Finlayson has also been a news director in Nashville for Meredith's WSMV, where he lead the newsroom to number one ratings in four out of five newscasts, and was the news director at Cox's San Francisco/Oakland KTVU where the station became the market leader in all dayparts and was honored by the Project for Excellence in Journalism as having the highest quality local newscast in the country.

He has reported from a half dozen countries and is the recipient of numerous Emmy and Edward R Murrow regional awards. His book, "Questions That Work" (AMACOM) has been translated into four languages and was used in national training seminars. A sought after speaker and writer, he has spoken at UC Berkeley and Stanford, appeared at numerous media conferences and has had been quoted in or had articles appear in a range of industry publications including the journalism quarterly Nieman Reports from Harvard.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From the point of view of the author, April 7, 2001

By 

Andrew Finlayson (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Questions that Work: How to Ask Questions That Will Help You Succeed in Any Business Situation (Paperback)

I am the author and I hope you will find this book not only enjoyable but extremely useful.

Questions That Work is designed not only to be inspirational but a book that you will reach for regularly as you face many common business situations...including hiring, firing, team building, decision making,and trouble shooting. The book is filled with thousands of focused, specific inquiries from experts, questions that can help speed you through many problems you face each day.

I argue that successful individuals and institutions ask and actively encourage others to ask questions. It is the question and answer process that encourages curiosity, brings about continious learning, and creates satisfaction. I argue that if you don't have the right to ask questions and receive answers in your workplace, you are being robbed of one of your rights as a worker. If you are a manager, you simply can't know everything, so graceful, focused questioning is one of your most important tools for personal success.

I will leave you with one thought..."What is the most important question you need to ask someone today?" If you don't know...you have not adopted the life changing argument of "Questions That Work."

Thank you for considering this author review. I hope you enjoy the book and will let me know what you think of it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Useful Tool and Enjoyable, Insightful Read, February 8, 2003

By 

Jill Finlayson "jill" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Questions that Work: How to Ask Questions That Will Help You Succeed in Any Business Situation (Paperback)

I read this book and found it to be extremely useful in a number of applications. In particular if you are looking for a job or career advancement, this book gives you great ideas to help you analyze your own objectives as well as the value that you bring to your company.

I think this book would be of great help to college students as well as they write papers or apply for internships. It helps you isolate what is important and to research appropriately.

I would highly recommend this book. A great read on business trips - gets you thinking.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful! - I recommend this book to my MBA students, September 30, 2002

By 

S. C. Tasker (Berkeley CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Questions that Work: How to Ask Questions That Will Help You Succeed in Any Business Situation (Paperback)

Recent research suggests that questioning and listening are important but often neglected skills for MBA students. Therefore this past summer I surveyed the available books on this topic to see if there was a book I could use as a resource for my new course (at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley), which requires the students to do a significant amount of interviewing. I was delighted to discover "Questions that Work." Finlayson's argument is that in this time of constant change we each need to cultivate a "personal questioning network" of people with all sorts of expertise to whom we can go for help. His book is an inspiring and practical how-to guide for the construction of, and graceful and effective use of, such a network. I recommend it highly.