Great Questions
I love great questions.
I identify with the Introvert memes about preferring to get right into meaningful discussion (or geeky “shop talk”). And I loathe small talk.
Some time in the 2000’s I started discovering and collecting really interesting questions. Ones that aren’t too deep to ask a stranger. (Though it might take a bit of bravery. It usually pays off!).
At work, we occasionally have opportunity to put someone in a “hot seat”, where a group gets to ask them rapid fire questions. I love to pull out some “deep” ones, and I have paid attention to which ones make the whole room react.
Around 2014 I noticed Kalina Silverman’s videos going around with what she was calling “Big Talk” (as opposed to “small talk”), which gave a label to the kinds of questions I’m referring to.
Here’s a few of my favorite, off the top of my head:
Beaches or mountains? Why?
What was the first thing you bought with your own money?
What could you give a 20-minute presentation on with absolutely no preparation?
The same year, the John Maxwell book “Good Leaders Ask Great Questions” came out. A few that immediately struck me as useful from that book:
What have you read that I should read?
What have you done that I should do?
Who do you know whom I should know?
(protip: if you have a mentor, those are super good).
Another incredible set of resources is from Steph Ango (aka kepano):
Do you have any go-to questions? I would love to hear them!
Want to hear more of my favorites?
I’ve been curating a list of great questions on a dedicated site/app: https://bigtalk.beepboop.ing/. From there, you can save your favorites to a list, and peek at random entries.