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Hal Gregerson - Asking Better Questions for Creative Problem Solving, Innovation and Effective Leadership with Hal Gregersen

Everyday you face a scenario or a circumstance, it could be at your work or personal space and these kind of situations raises questions. These questions aren’t just to solve a problem but also to clarify all your doubts, confusions and to resolve the issue. By resolving the issue not helps get clarity but also helps you make progress, it gives a better understanding of the problem. Questions are the answer to problem solving.

The book, ‘Questions are your answers’ is a break through for all your problem solving and help you succeed in life. It all started with Hal’s mother who piqued his curiosity as a kid while taking him to the supermarkets and other places by raising questions for every product that she purchased.  Hal Gregerson also in his conversation with TED talks discussed how people of all ages can cultivate the habit of raising proper questions. This can successfully help them negotiate the intricacies and ambiguities of the modern world. Enhance the power of our current society for a better and improved future tomorrow by reviving our propensity to question.

He also discusses about the digital era we live in and how rapidly everything undergoes a transformation and at a high magnitude. By the time we comprehend the initial situation there is something else that takes place. The reason we ask questions is to obtain a valuable insight relevant to a challenge that creates an impact. This reminds me of an example that happened in class recently where a fellow classmate of mine threw a counter question for a coding sequence and our professor happened to try it and to his surprise the order sequence worked. Asking the right and thought-provoking questions can make things work, can create beautiful solutions to solve any issues and the above was a simple live example of what we experienced in class. Now all of us know that this sequence could be used in our examinations as well. Matter resolved with one simple yet a meaningful question!

In Hal’s term, ‘Question Burst’ gives participants or candidates the opportunities to view things with a fresh perspective and produce innovative solutions. Numerous questions arise when exploring new ideas and to invent something spectacular, you need to step out of your comfort zone and ask the questions that will create the difference.

Hal Gregerson has been an executive director of the MIT Leadership Centre and a Senior Lecturer in leadership and innovation at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He has also collaborated with the top-notch companies like Chanel, Disney etc. and was termed one of the most innovative minds by Thinkers 50. He has authored and co-authored 10 books and his recent breakthrough was “Questions Are the Answer: A Breakthrough Approach to Your Most Vexing Problems at Work and in Life” and “The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators” (with Clayton Christensen and Jeff Dyer).

Reference Links:

(47) How To Ask The Right Question: Hal Gregersen at TEDxYouth@IFTA - YouTube

Hal Gregersen says questions are the answer | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Asking the questions that unlock innovation | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Do you recall a time we took picture perfect shots of our food, it’s presentation and other intricacies before eating it? Have you organized a delectable table or chronicled your baking journey from the scratch solely for your Instagram posts especially during the pre-covid times?

We all can agree on the fact that food is a prominent topic of interest amongst people. Like the saying goes, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” which is universally applicable to all in today’s day and era. The way to a person’s heart is through their stomach. Everyone can agree that when COVID hit the entire globe on the flipside you had individual cooks, food bloggers, home bakers and cloud kitchen bloomed to its peak. Food became an emotion, when you think back even after a decade when Instagram evolved through all these years – food was one of the most popular interests since its inception and until today food holds a great momentum through all of Instagram’s trends.

Why has the trend of foodstagraming become a ritual? It started with posting aesthetic photos but it slowly transitioned into an enterprising business and everyone relied on this platform to showcase their work of food art. People also became more aware – there were many small food businesses that boomed especially during the pandemic times. Food reviewers, food critics, and food bloggers were in high demand and due to the boom in the market – the application also introduced many new features like paid partnerships, shops etc.

Instagram for foodpreneurs have literally stimulated a myriad of ideas for execution, taste and aesthetics. It has been highly beneficial for all the home cooks, chefs, restaurateurs, etc.

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This article is about how our brain, the superhero of every human system takes the responsibility of ingesting all the information and transforming them into everyday actions thus helping us achieve all our goals. This functioning of the brain is termed as ‘cognitive control’ and is elaborated by cognitive neuro scientist Prof. David Badre. His insight dives deep into the process of the human consciousness that generates a profound impact on our daily activities and well-being.

David Badre also discusses about the different parts of a human brain and their functions: For instance, how is the prefrontal cortex crucial for all the highest mental functions? He calls this a puzzle because this part of the brain plays a major role in human intelligence and joining all the pieces together.

There are so many questions and doubts around ‘Cognitive control’ – How do we acquire and store the knowledge, where does it all start from? How does the understanding begin? Action itself is kind of a knowledge. Some of the thoughts are controlled automatically like a fixed program in our system. However, we can either implement the already existing knowledge or inculcate the new knowledge to pursue what we want to do.

He compares our brain to the functioning of an SEO as to how our computer stores databases, similarly our brain cells collect all the information that is fed to us. With a good memory system, we can maximise value, where you don’t have to access the entire memory but the needed information is readily available and can be easily retrieved. Dr. Badre also states that the design of our brain is equivalent to that of a well-designed computer that contributes to stability.

Our system is very fragile – there are so many things happening around us and sometimes it becomes hard to process all the information and actions happening. That is when cognitive control plays a role, for instance if you have an incoming buzz from the phone – there is always an impulse to check it. Control at this point is essential especially when you’re driving a vehicle or during a lecture – during times like these, it is important to identify the context you’re in and be able to deploy the information at that very moment. Cognitive science is all about how we absorb the information and how we gate it out.  

David Badre, is a renowned cognitive neuro scientist who has published his book called ‘On Task: How Our Brain Gets Things Done’. He completed his bachelors in science in the year 2000 from the University of Michigan and pursued his Ph.D. in Cognitive Sciences from MIT. He has also published several research papers on neuroscience of the memory and cognitive control. Dr. Badre started of as an assistant professor and is currently serving on the Board of Reviewing Editors. His area of expertise are psychological sciences, cognitive sciences and behavioural neurosciences. His research papers can be accessed from Google scholar since 2007 and his book has bagged good reviews from the public.

Reference Links:

‪David Badre - ‪Google Scholar

David Badre (Author of On Task) (goodreads.com)