Lessons on asking the Big Questions
By Amber Hudson and Luke Sklar
Skim the headlines and you quickly wonder what the hell is going on: you’ve got the internet explosion over Kim Kardashian’s photos and then the Chief of Science for the Rosetta space mission getting fired for the shirt he wore during the comet landing. A shirt! Yes, it’s a nasty shirt, but it’s proof that we’ve lost sight of the big picture: this great human race can seamlessly land a device with decade old technology on an orbiting comet…how grand is that! #shirtstorm indeed.
It’s high time we get beyond the superficial and start thinking about what’s really important. It’s the big questions that truly bring about change; the questions that lead to genuine discussion rather than taking potshots at someone.
The challenge is, in our hyper-busy, Google-informed world, we have squeezed out thinking time, the time to wonder and just be curious. Kids do it all the time. But once we leave school we switch to asking the hard questions which, according to askbigquestions.com, rely on facts and experts to answer. We don’t often ask the big questions, which rely on wisdom and experience. Things like:
- When do you take a stand
- What will be your legacy
- When are you satisfied
- What do you need to learn
- What will you do better this year
Not, how big is Kim Kardashian’s butt.
So the lesson is, as we start to reflect on the year and think about 2015, how can Marketers, as thought leaders, find thinking time in your day to ask yourselves the big questions, those that make you curious and wonder about the world around you. Let’s spend our energy on these pursuits rather than on Buzzfeed.