The other day I was talking with a new business acquaintance who asked, “What’s the most interesting question a CEO has asked you?” I stopped to think about it. When I responded, I said, “You know, when I’m in a conversation with a CEO, I find them more often in ‘tell’ mode than ‘ask’ mode.” It bothered me when I said it, and I’ve been thinking about it since. 

Today’s organizational culture drives executives to tell more and ask less. This is a pity, really, because it keeps them from some of the best business intelligence. Executives can expand their own knowledge and improve their teams’ effectiveness through a very simple tactic: asking questions.

Folks around me recently know this has become one of my very favorite questions. Here’s why:

You know how dominos can be stood on end and placed in a line? And the front domino – if you place it just right – will tip all the rest?  Using customer experience to drive performance is what makes me think of one of those lines of falling dominos.

At the end of your line of dominos, the outcome of success or failure, is profit. (If you’re a social sector organization you might measure sustainable social outcomes, but you get the idea.)  At the front of the line is the purpose domino, the action that drives all the others to fall into place.  In the middle I see all of the actions and decisions that must align with the purpose in order to tip the back domino to win a performance payoff.