Podcasts, questions and leadership

I believe that great questions are more important than great answers. Questions are also at the heart of scientific inquiry. There is little hope for a scientific breakthrough without the annoying pessimist who calls himself a realist and questions everything. But the pessimist is helpful. What’s true and relevant today may not be so tomorrow. It also seems that the lifespan of facts gets shorter by the day. So answers have a shelf-life, and to uncover more relevant answers, questions are key.

It took me a while to come to this conclusion and my children have been my best teachers here. Kids are really amazing with questions. If you have the chance to spend time with children, listen carefully. Most of their questions are of the nature that we should steal some of those with pride! “If babies come from mummy’s tummy, then where did the very first baby come from...Why would someone buy jeans which have holes on them when new… Why is the steering column on this side of the car and not the other side… Why does it rain… Why do men need to cut their hair when they enter military service?” My kids have asked me these questions and so many more. I hope it never stops as I’m learning tons trying to help them uncover some (current) answers to these!

Questions are also a leader’s greatest asset. And leadership itself, as a notion, should be approached with curiosity and questions. So we’ve embarked on a journey of our own, too, meeting with people from different walks of life, armed with questions to explore leadership, and recording it all. We’ll broadcast our discussions in a series of podcasts. Let us know if you like these, and we will make more. Also let us know if you know of an interesting person that you’d like us to speak with, and equally importantly; what should we ask?

The first episode can be listened to on Soundcloud. The Cargotec podcast main page is here.

Who should we invite for a discussion - and what should we ask them? Comment at Soundcloud!