Are You Asking the Right Questions?

It's that wonderful time of the year again. Budget season. Time to figure out what went right, what went wrong and what we are going to do next year. We spend a great deal of time on these sales tips being "outward facing." Meaning that they are designed to be shared with clients or teammates to help them with a particular struggle. Today, if you'll indulge me, I want to focus on us, you and me, as business leaders. Official title or not, we are all leaders, and you might have noticed we are living in chaotic times right now.

Whether you're planning next year's budget or solving an immediate problem, the questions you ask will often determine the scope of your vision. Let me explain. Asking what went right or wrong this year limits your vision to this year's business circumstances. Traditional questions like: What's the ROI? How are we measuring success? How soon can we get this done? They are not bad questions; we've used them for years. But as Cheryl Strauss Einhorn, founder and CEO of Decisive, suggests in a recent Harvard Business Review Article:

"When you're in a state of perma-crisis, asking the right questions is one of the most powerful actions a leader can take. That's because good questions don't just help you find answers—they open up your thinking and help you see your choices from new perspectives."

Am I the only one who loves the term "perma-crisis" to define our current world? Einhorn says four questions can be mind- and perspective-expanding:

What decision today will still make sense a year from now?

Asking this question forces leaders to pause and consider the durability of their choices, injecting long-term thinking into short-term chaos.

If a year from now, this decision was used as an example of our leadership, what would it teach? In uncertain times, when data is incomplete and outcomes feel unpredictable, this question helps leaders shift from reactive problem-solving to intentional meaning-making.

What if this isn't the storm—what if it's the climate? This question flips the way leaders typically frame disruption. Rather than treating volatility as a temporary storm to wait out, it asks you to consider: What if this is the new normal?

What's the cost of waiting? In a crisis, the instinct to pause—to wait for more data, for more certainty, for the fog to clear—can feel responsible and prudent. Leaders are taught to avoid rushing, to reduce risk and to base decisions on evidence. But in volatile environments, the pursuit of perfect clarity often conceals a hidden cost: the cost of inaction.

Multi-channel marketing, digital, AI, new ways of consuming content, new ways of serving our customers and our communities. These latest trends deserve – no, demand – new ways of thinking and approaches to problem solving. Hopefully, these four questions will serve as a good starting point for you this weekend as you begin planning for next year, whether for yourself, your team or both.

In today's "perma-crisis" world, looking for "normal" is just not reality. We are in a period of massive shifts – if anything, that instability is what's normal now and for the foreseeable future. Don't be tempted to be paralyzed by fear, but instead embrace the opportunities that lie ahead. The best is yet to come!

PS. Come to think of it, this may be of value to a client of yours who is also facing challenges. Pass it along. Sharing is caring!

Happy Friday!

Think Big, Make Big Things Happen!

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@rab.com. You can all so connect with him on X and LinkedIn.