Why Is It Important to Ask Questions

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Thinking of Leaving Your Company? 4 Reasons to Stay

22380585338_3b996c5bd7 Asking questions is a basic leadership requirement. Whether you are leading, managing, job interviewing, negotiation, selling, influencing or just engaging your question asking is more important then you question answering.

  • Find out what the other people care about, value, like, and dislike
  • Distinguish yourself from the know-it-alls
  • Flatter others, and maintain their self-esteem
  •  Show interest in others rather than coming across as just trying to get what you want
  • Get a more honest assessment of the situation
  • Avoid jumping to conclusions and making false assumptions
  • Help guide people to arrive at the answer you want
  • Buy yourself time
  • Handle surprise and attack by asking for clarification instead of jumping into a defensive mode
  • Persuade better
  • Reinforce, clarify, or correct what you think you know
  • Test and verify what they know
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Debra Benton

D.A. (Debra) Benton has been helping great individuals and organizations get even better for over 20 years. Just as exceptional athletes rely on excellent coaching to hone their skills, Debra's clients rely on her advice to advance their careers. She focuses on what is truly important to convert what you and your organization want to be from a vision into a reality. TopCEOCoaches.com ranks her in the World's Top 10 CEO Coaches noting she is the top female. And as conference keynote speaker she is routinely rated in the top 2%. Her client list reads like a “Who's Who” of executives in companies ranging from Microsoft, McDonald's, Kraft, American Express, Merrill Lynch, United Airlines, and PricewaterhouseCoopers to the Washington Beltway and U.S.Border Patrol. *She is the author of ten award-winning and best-selling business books including The Virtual Executive and CEO Material. She has written for the Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Fast Company. She has been featured in USA Today, Fortune, The New York Times, and Time; she has appeared on Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and CBS with Diane Sawyer. To learn more Debra advising leaders, coaching, facilitating a workshop, or speaking: www.debrabenton.com

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