Sunday Inspiration: Good Leaders Ask Great Questions

12 Oct

Matthew 7:7 – “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Yesterday evening I received an email from Dr. John Maxwell titled “Your Word Today is ASK” with a link to a value-packed short video. That title grabbed my attention because I know as a leadership coach the importance of asking good questions.

Good Leaders Ask Great QuestionsAfter watching Dr. Maxwell’s short video, I was inspired to order the Kindle version of his latest book “Good Leaders Ask Great Questions [http://www.amazon.com/Good-Leaders-Ask-Great-Questions-ebook/dp/B00I829QJ8/].” Before going to bed, I began reading and highlighting the book. That is outstanding. Here are some excerpts that stood out for me:

If you want to be successful and reach your leadership potential, you need to embrace asking questions as a lifestyle. Here’s why:

1) You only get answers to the questions you ask.

With profound questions, you get profound answers, life confidence, wise decision making, focused on high priorities, and mature processing.

Asking the right question of the right person at the right time is a powerful combination. IBM founder Thomas J. Watson said, “The ability to ask the right question is more than half the battle of finding the answer.” But that’s only true if you are willing to ask the question.

2) Questions unlock and open doors that otherwise remain closed.

In life’s journey we face many doors. Hidden behind them are all kinds of possibilities leading to opportunities, experiences, and people, but the doors must be opened before we can go through them. Questions are the key to opening these doors.

Management expert Peter Drucker said, “My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.” Successful leaders relentlessly ask questions and have an incurable desire to pick the brains of the people they meet.

3) Questions are the most effective means of connecting with people.

Before we can communicate, we must establish commonality. The goal of effective communication is to prompt people to think, “Me too!” Too many speakers seem to elicit the thought “So what?”

The most effective way to connect with others is by asking questions. Questions connect people. Of course, you have to ask the right questions. What you ask matters. So does how you ask.

“The greatest problem with communication is the illusion that is has been accomplished.” – George Bernard Shaw

Dr. Maxwell goes on to list five more good reasons why it’s important to embrace asking good questions.

On Wednesday October 8, the day of the second of four blood moons in an 18 month period and the start of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles), I hosted Gary Beaton on a webinar titled “Soaring Into Your Destiny.” With just a nine hour notice by email, we had a record number of sign ups of all the webinars I have ever hosted. I had never seen anything like that in the past 8 years.

Gary’s presentation was about 45 minutes followed by a 7 minute offer. After that, we has so many questions submitted by the audience that the Q&A session went on for 55 minutes before we finally had to cut it off. In response to that webinar, Gary set a record for the most sign-ups for a training program in an hour, in a day, and in 3 days. It was incredible and overwhelmed my team’s capacity to respond in a timely fashion to everyone who was interested.

Gary says, “We are in a moment of acceleration and advancement in the Kingdom and we must take hold and seize the day.” The new Hebrew year we are in is very significant. Leaders like Jonathan Cahn and John Hagee are predicting a world-shaking event between Sept 2014 and Sept 2015.

Rosh Hashanah, marking the beginning of the Jewish New Year, began on the evening of Wednesday September 24. This year is the 7th (last) of 7 Shemitahs (Sabbath years) in a 49 year cycle, which will lead to the start of the year of Jubilee in Sept 2015 when debts are to be forgiven. In addition, it’s only the sixth time in the past 2,000 years that we have had 4 blood moons in an 18 month period. In Genesis 1:14, God said the sun and moon are for “signs and seasons.”

One of the reasons Gary’s webinar was so popular is that many of God’s children recognize that we are in a historic season in God’s time table and that we must have divine understanding and revelation to know how to respond to the ominous events that will be unfolding.

Who is Gary Beaton?

Gary Beaton was supernaturally called by God to bring transformational glory to the nations. His heart is to bring about Restoration and Revival in personal lives, cities and nations.

What is transformation glory and how might that change your life?

CLICK HERE to watch the video replay of Soaring Into Your Destiny.

Blessings to ask great questions to receive great answers!

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