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Weekly Wednesday Wisdom: When a Question Isn't a Question

This is the second, and maybe final (you never know), wisdom from creative directors posts.

Wisdom for Miloh: A lot of sentences that end with a question mark are not questions... They are statements.

Honestly one of the best things I heard in the business world and I heard it only about two years ago. In business there's an epidemic of people asking questions instead of stating opinions.

Many of them start with "Do you think" or "Did you try".

I don't remember this happening much in Chicago... Maybe I didn't pay attention or maybe it's that Chicagoans are direct. Minnesotans are certainly not direct.

It's that Minnesota Nice passive aggressive BS that I hop to shelter Miloh from... I mean he'll be steeped in it but I hope it doesn't invade his personality.

I caught myself asking a question statement the other day... But I called myself on it.

And I think that's what you need to do when you hear a question statement... Call it out.

The old creative director I worked with did call it out... I don't call it out enough but think I will for now on... Not to be rude... But to clarify.

And it's not just in business that you'll hear these question statements. It comes up in regular life.

Then there are the questions you're not supposed to answer... The cliche ones like "Do I look fat in this?"

And there are the ones that seem benign but really aren't, like "how do I look in this?" The answer to that question is always yes... A resounding yes. If you answer anything else you'll have to push back reservations, call friends and tell them you'll be late or start that novel you've been wanting to read.

Comments

  1. JustinOctober 5, 2011 at 10:49 AM

    You should try teaching. Every questions I ask is rhetorical...

    ReplyDelete

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