Insights from Paige Costello: “Answer the question they should have asked.”
I was recently listening to Lenny’s podcast featuring Paige Costello, and I was really struck by one thing that she mentioned. In a meeting, her boss had once told her to “Always answer the question they should have asked.”
In my consulting work, my job involves satisfying clients’ needs by solving problems and sharing my expertise. I’ll always offer in-depth answers to all questions thrown my way. But this nugget of wisdom got me thinking: should I be doing more?
Understanding an issue deeply is not just about answering questions directly. It’s also about identifying and addressing underlying concerns or questions that haven’t been articulated, or that they’re unaware of. Providing answers to these unasked questions can reveal a broader perspective of the problem and steer the conversation in a more productive direction.
So, the new challenge I’m taking on is to predict, identify, and answer those unasked questions.
Brendan McNulty 