Getting to Innovation

TWO

Question Banks:Understanding the Strategic Terrain

Willy Sutton, a notorious U.S. bank robber in the 1930s, supposedly was asked once why he robbed banks. His answer was simple and to the point: “Because that’s where the money is!” Strategic questioning banks (or “Q-banks”) are used because asking questions is “where the answers are!” Simple as that. To understand just about anything, we need to ask questions—a basic component of natural human inquisitiveness. However, systematically asking questions in organizations—no matter how valid and useful they may be—often results in dissension and resistance among organizational stakeholders.

When Nike chairman Phillip Knight announced William D. Perez as his successor as CEO of Nike, one of the ...