Technology Executives CEO Group

Friday, January 10, 2025

Discussion Topic:

Asking Smarter Questions – Key Success Factors?

As the CEO of the U.S. chipmaker NVIDIA, Jensen Huang operates in an ultra-high-tech industry requiring agile, innovative thinking. He told the New York Times how his leadership style evolved: “I probably give fewer answers, and I ask a lot more questions… It’s almost possible now for me to go through a day and do nothing but ask questions… Through probing, I help [my management team]…explore ideas that they didn’t realize needed to be explored.”

Leaders have embraced the importance of listening, curiosity, learning, and humility – qualities critical to skillful interrogation. “Question-storming” – brainstorming for questions rather than answers – is now a creativity technique. But unlike lawyers, doctors, and psychologists, business leaders aren’t formally trained on what kinds of questions to ask. They must learn as they go.

“Our research reveals that strategic questions can be grouped into five domains: investigative, speculative, productive, interpretive, and subjective. Each unlocks a different aspect of the decision-making process. Together they can help you tackle key issues that are all too easy to miss.”

The above is from the article “The Art of Asking Smarter Questions” in the May-June 2024 issue of Harvard Business Review.

In a brief presentation, we’ll further explore questions in the five domains mentioned above, plus a few more concepts from the article, and some other approaches to asking smarter questions. Then members will share and discuss:

If Jensen Huang at NVIDIA is mostly asking questions (“It’s almost possible now for me to go through a day and do nothing but ask questions”) around 90% of the time, versus sharing information during his average workday:

• What percent of your workday do you now think you should be asking questions?
• What percent of your time are you actually spending asking questions?
• If there’s a gap, how do you believe you might best close it?
• What are your current 3-4 Key Success Factors for ensuring you’re asking smarter questions (more effectively thought-through, framed, and asked) in each of these situations:
  > To shape your strategy and tactics?
  > To get the person you’re interacting with to better shape their strategies and tactics?
  > Other key situations for you?

As always, we’ll look to hear and discuss, “What’s Keeping You Up Nights?” and we’ll also serve as Strategic Advisory Board Members to Sameer Bhatia, as he makes his Featured Member Presentation.

Sameer Bhatia is the Founder and CEO of Batia Infotech, the company behind ProProfs.com, where he is driven to create a 100-year company that delivers delightfully smart software. Sameer dislikes the term ‘customer satisfaction,’ believing that ‘satisfaction’ is a low bar; users deserve nothing less than a delightful experience at ProProfs. His vision is simple: software should make you happy. That’s why he’s built ProProfs, a suite of SaaS tools to cultivate what every business needs: smarter employees and happier customers through employee training and customer support software. Batia Infotech develops software and internet businesses focused on user delight, including popular platforms like Marriage.com, Qualaroo survey software, BigContacts CRM, and PeopleGoal HR software. ProProfs.com, its leading platform, hosts over one million pages of knowledge content, including tests, quizzes and courses in 90+ languages serving a global audience. With a suite of tools that includes an LMS, knowledge base, skill assessment, employee performance and development software, this SaaS platform empowers companies to create a learning culture that results in more skilled, smarter employees. In addition, ProProfs provides solutions for customer support, like help desk, live chat, help center and a CRM, enabling businesses to have happier customers. The company is based in Santa Monica, with an additional office in Delhi-NCR, India. Sameer’s past ventures include e-learning and e-commerce startups, as well as the innovative undertaking of building a niche search engine.

Session Dates

Past Discussion Topics Include