0040: The Four Options I Use To Answer Questions. Don’t Be Afraid of #4

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Hey there, hero!

People ask me a LOT of questions – in class, at workouts, events, online, via email, and on the phone.

And I try to be as direct and efficient as I can, because I want to help people get to their goals as quickly as possible.

I have four go-to choices I select from when answering questions.

And the fourth one is one many people are afraid of.

(I think if we were more comfortable with that choice when it’s appropriate, we’d all be better off.)

Thoughts? Let me know below.

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Responses

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  1. This constant honing-to-purity of your responses, of knowledge, of your mentoring- and voice- skills is the reason I’ve followed you since the early 2000s, David.

    It’s clear you want everyone to find their best path and to love their work as much as you love yours.

    Back in the day we used to call it “sharing our toys”. Today I’d call it the most decisive action we can take to succeed at Cop26, correct global economic imbalances and hand future generations a planet better than the one we were given.
    VO heroic, indeed. ✊😊 Thank you.

  2. Thanks David. I learn a lot from you. I learned the #4 lesson early on in my architecture career. I was warned about another female architect that threw out quick answers to clients even if she didn’t know the answer. She didn’t want to look “dumb”. Little did she realize not only would she look “dumb” later but also like her answers couldn’t be trusted. People respect you for being human. They learn they can trust what you say. An what a great opportunity/reason to follow up with someone if you have to look something up. Being a person who follows through can be very impressive too.

  3. Thank you for this, and esp for discussing #4 in your usual smart, warm, clear and helpful way. I completely agree with the value and power of being able to say I Don’t Know, but also the joy of following up to find an answer! I learned in a long teaching career that, tho it does make some folks uncomfortable to learn I’m not omniscient, most ppl appreciate and, as Vanessa says, trust me more for it. Another lesson in being authentic! And curious!

  4. The best way to learn — on your own or from somebody else — is to admit, unapologetically, that you don’t have an answer. People who do have the answer (or, at least, an answer) will gladly set you right. If that resource isn’t available then, hey, you’ve got a shiny new goal to reach, a task to accomplish. If somebody’s waiting for you to come up with a response and enlighten them, all the better. You get to help someone out.

  5. I’ve been using option #4 for years, and I find that it takes the burden off of me to be that Super Expert when it comes to, say, helping a customer find out about a product. Besides, once I get an answer for them, and they see that there’s no great mystery to the process, it empowers them in ways they don’t expect.

  6. There is a tremendous joy in ‘finding out’ for yourself or others. There is also a rush of power with that joy, in the best sense of that word. I’m of the age where we had to go to the library and use a card file, generations before the internet and keywords became the norm. (It made me an ace with both.)

    Who had all the power at the library? The librarians at the Reference Desk, because THEY knew how to “find out” the answer to any question they were asked. Which librarians were always the happiest? The staff at the Reference Desk, because they experienced joy every day — by being able to take in knowledge, then share it with those who needed it. Even as a child, I realized they had the best job ever! Please never be afraid to ‘find out’ when you don’t immediately know, because you’re enriching your own knowledge base as well as someone else’s. It’s the ultimate win-win.

  7. David , Very helpful as I was looking for ideas for a future podcast. Wishing you success as we both are on the voice-over podcast journey.
    Best regards,
    Earl Thomas