Customer Reviews

Smart Questions: The Essential Strategy for Successful Managers

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The 'smart question' to ask is "Why am I looking at these types of books?" If the answer is to improve your ability to get more out of your meetings, interviews, negotiations, and communications with everyone at any level (internal and external to your organization), this is the book to buy by far. I've read many self-help communications books and this one really gets to the heart of the matter -- ask and you shall receive; ask the right question(s) and you'll get what you want/deserve. It was an easy and enjoyable read that gets you engaged from the first chapter (unlike so many other books that take 5 chapters to explain what they're to accomplish). The quizzes really provide helpful and immediate feedback. You can read from cover to cover or use as a reference. Either way, this book gives you tools to use right away. You'll carry this one around with you until you've mastered the technique.

You won't be disappointed (as I have with so many other books of this kind). This one is a winner, hands down!

Dorothy Leeds skillfully addresses the problem that we all seem to have in communication---asking the right question. She takes you through asking yourself what it is you're trying to achieve, and then helps you think about how to formulate an effective "query" to receive your answer. She says (and I agree) that next to the effective use of silence, asking 'smart questions' is the second most powerful communication tool that there is. Anyone who wishes to communicate effectively and powerfully should own a copy of this book, keep it close by, and study its depth. HIGHLY recommended for those in the Health Sciences field.

Excellent handbook on how to frame and use questions to gain commitment, resolve problems, develop creative solutions, and respond to different personality types. Clear examples of how good questions can impact results and meet personal goals. A must read for anyone who feels the best way to get results is to tell people what they need to do.

This book is helpful in learning to frame questions that help to effect positive change. Most people are more willing to accept answers that they discover for themselves. And of course, no one will make any real change unless they want to. The best you can get with force is outward conformity, and you will only get it to the degree that employees feel they "must" go along with. It takes a lot less energy to help people find their own internal motivation than it does to push or drag them along.

As a professional personal coach who works one-on-one to help others reach greater success, I really appreciate the approach of this book. "Smart Questions" is for anyone who doesn't realize that good coaching isn't about advising. This book shows you why asking the right question is much more powerful than giving an answer or advice, especially advice that someone isn't necessarily looking for. The essence of great coaching is all about asking smart questions. The best answers almost always come from whomever you're helping, not you.

I am in Consulting and I convert most of my statements to questions; and boy, it works. First few chapters of this book are essential to your business communications.

This is a pretty good book for finding a lot of ideas of the kinds of questions that could be useful, but there are too many of them with, to my view, a cohesive, practical theme bringing it all together. In the same book order, I found more useful "Change Your Questions, Change Your Life," by Marilee Adams, which is very simple and useful in both personal and professional realms. I've introduced her basic ideas at work and home and they are so easy and helpful, the ideas in them have caught on and actually used!

I'm going to use the Smart Questions more as an encyclopedia to look up situations in which her suggestions seem useful. For example, I like the section on coaching, which I've already used at work.

So, if you have the time and bucks get both. Otherwise, I'd go with Adams book.

This is a great companion to Leeds earlier book--7 Powers of Questions. There's some great practical tips here that will help you work smart, have greater interpersonal influence, and avoid shooting yourself in the foot.

Bill Wiersma, Author, The Big AHA

Originally published by McGraw-Hill in 1987, I've had this book since then. It's filled with questions for you to ask someone else, but also with questions to ask yourself. There are separate chapters for questions dealing with Hiring, Supervision, Delegation, Training and Coaching, Problem Solving, Performance Appraisals, Negotiating a Raise, Tuning into the corporate culture, and more.

If you're looking for a primer on asking questions--including a quiz to determine whether you ask enough questions and how comfortable you are asking them--then this is a great place to start.

This was probably an excellent book when it was current, but I felt very uncomfortable reading it.