A More Beautiful Question (37 page)

28
   
Dennie Palmer Wolf, a professor . . .
Dennie Palmer Wolf, “The Art of Questioning,”
Academic Connections
, Winter 1987.

29
   
What is a flame? . . .
Kenneth Change, “A Challenge to Make Science Crystal Clear,”
New York Times
, March 5, 2012. Also from articles on the Center for Communicating Science website, http://www.centerforcommunicatingscience.org/the-flame-challenge-2/about-the-challenge/.

30
   
Joshua Aronson of New York University . . .
From my interview with Aronson, November 2012.

31
   
A recent study of fourth- and fifth-grade . . .
Jessica McCrory Calarco, “Middle-Class Children: Squeaky wheels in training,” Indiana University study (press release posted on
Eurekalert!
), August 19, 2012.

32
   
One of the “master questioners” I . . .
Jack Andraka interview, February 12, 2012.

33
   
When the Boston high school teacher . . .
Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana,
Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions
(Cambridge. MA: Harvard Education Press, 2012).

34
   
Luz Santana knew from firsthand experience . . .
From my interview with Santana.

35
   
They found that their questioning techniques . . .
These case studies are cited on the website of the Right Question Institute.

36
   
“seems to unlock something for them” . . .
Rothstein and Santana,
Make Just One Change.

37
   
The social critic Neil Postman wondered . . .
Neil Postman,
Building a Bridge to the 18th Century: How the Past Can Improve Our Future
(New York: Knopf, 1999).

38
   
William Deresiewicz, the acclaimed author . . .
From my interview with Deresiewicz, January 30, 2013.

39
   
“He had a young person’s ability . . .”
Deresiewicz’s description of his college professor is from his essay “A Jane Austen Education,”
Chronicle Review
, May 1, 2011, http://chronicle.com/article/A-Jane-Austen-Education/127269/.

40
   
How might parents make their kids better questioners? . . .
Hal Gregersen’s quote is from my interview with him; Isidor Isaac Rabi’s quote has circulated widely, recently appearing on Signals vs. Noise, an online publication of 37signals.com http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3424-my-mother-made-me-a-scientist-without-ever; Clayton Christensen’s quote is from my interview with him; David Kelley’s quote from his interview with Charlie Rose on
60 Minutes
, airdate January 6, 2012.

41
   
Thrun and one of his partners . . .
From my interview with Au, as well as my e-mail exchanges with Thrun. I also drew on an article profiling Thrun, Tom Vanderbilt, “How Artificial Intelligence Can Change Higher Education,”
Smithsonian
magazine, December 2012.

42
   
One college professor recently observed . . .
Thomas Friedman, “Revolution Hits the Universities,”
New York Times
, January 26, 2013.

Chapter 3: The Why, What If, and How of Innovative Questioning

  
1
   
Edwin Land was a brilliant inventor . . .
In recounting the Polaroid story, I relied on a number of sources, starting with
Life
magazine’s cover story, “A Genius and His Camera,” October 27, 1972. In the article, Land explains, in his own words, how his daughter asked him why she couldn’t see the photograph right away. A good roundup on the Polaroid story also appears in Harry McCracken, “Polaroid SX-70: The Art and Science of the Nearly Impossible,”
Technologizer
, June 8, 2011, http://technologizer.com/2011/06/08/polaroid/. Another good source was “Polaroid Corporation,”
International Directory of Company Histories
, vol. 93 (Detroit: St. James Press, 2008). I first learned about the Polaroid question story from Mike Brewster, “The Great Innovators: Instant Photos, Lasting Fame,”
Business Week
, June 29, 2004. Several good books have been written about Land and Polaroid, including Victor K. McElheny,
Insisting on the Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land
(New York: Basic Books, 1999). But I am particularly indebted to the Christopher Bonanos book
Instant: The Story of Polaroid
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton Architectural Press, 2012). See also Bonanos, “The Man Who Inspired Jobs,”
New York Times
, October 7, 2011. Bonanos is slightly skeptical about the veracity of the “daughter’s question” story, whether Land embellished his own tale; nevertheless I choose to accept Land’s story as truth—if not a literal one, then a larger one.

  
2
   
“it wouldn’t do to have a tank . . .”
Bonanos,
Instant
.

  
3
   
While everyone else nodded . . .
From my interviews with George Lois in 2008 and 2009, for
Glimmer
.

  
4
   
“Why does it pay to swim with dolphins?” . . .
The story about Marc Benioff’s question was told in Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen’s
The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators
(Cambridge: Harvard Business Review Press, 2011). The quote about “turning the software industry on its head” is from Jon Swartz, “Salesforce CEO leads charge against software,”
USA Today
, July 24, 2007.

  
5
   
Robert Burton, a neurologist and . . .
From my interview with Burton, November 2012. Burton’s theories about certainty also appear in his article “The Certainty Epidemic,”
Salon
, February 29, 2008; as well as in Burton’s book,
On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You’re Not
(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2008).

  
6
   
A nice description of this phenomenon . . .
Maura O’Neill, “Disruptive Innovation Often Comes from Unexpected Places,”
Huffington Post
, January 25, 2013.

  
7
   
the late cofounder of Apple, Steve Jobs . . .
Jobs’s interest in
shoshin
and other Zen principles has been chronicled in a number of places, including Walter Isaacson’s biography
Steve
Jobs
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011); as well as Daniel Burke, “Steve Jobs’ Private Spirituality Now an Open Book,”
USA Today
, November 2, 2011; and my own article for
Fast Company
, “What Zen Taught Steve Jobs (and Silicon Valley) about Innovation,” April 9, 2012, http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669387/what-zen-taught-silicon-valley-and-steve-jobs-about-innovation.

  
8
   
a bit of ancient wisdom, brought to . . .
As explained to me by Randy Komisar, in my interviews with him in the spring and fall of 2012. For more on Shunryu Suzuki, see his book
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
(Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2011).

  
9
   
Les Kaye is a Zen abbot . . .
From my interview with Kaye, April 2012, for my
Fast Company
article “What Zen Taught Steve Jobs.”

10
   
Randy Komisar, a partner in the renowned . . .
From a series of interviews with Komisar in 2012 (for
Fast Company
and this book). For more from Komisar, see his book
The Monk and the Riddle
(Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2001).

11
   
“we are often looking at a problem . . .”
From my interview with Tod Machover on April 12, 2013.

12
   
a study conducted by the researchers . . .
From my interview with Darya Zabelina, December 5, 2012.

13
   
vuja de
, to use a quirky term . . .
Bob Sutton wrote about
vuja de
in his book
Weird Ideas That Work: 11½ Practices for Promoting, Managing and Sustaining Innovation
(New York: Free Press, 2002). The concept was also discussed in “Anthropologists in Pursuit of Vuja De,”
Fast Company
, October 17, 2005. Also, see the post on my website “The Power of Vuja De,” A More Beautiful Question, September 16, 2012, http://amorebeautifulquestion.com/power-of-vuja-de/.

14
   
“see what’s always been there . . . ”
Tom Kelley,
The Ten Faces of Innovation
(New York: Doubleday, 2005).

15
   
the term was mentioned, albeit briefly . . .
George Carlin’s vuja de bit can be seen on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7LBSDQ14eA.

16
   
the comedian and radio host Kelly Carlin . . .
From my interview with Kelly Carlin, April 10, 2013.

17
   
George Carlin once said that . . .
Stephen Sherrill, “Oh, Happy Day,”
New York Times Magazine
, June 3, 2001.

18
   
“they stopped looking too soon” . . .
Kelley,
Ten Faces of Innovation
.

19
   
business professor Vijay Govindarajan and . . .
Vijay Govindarajan and Srikanth Srinivas, “What’s the Connection Between Counting Squares and Innovation?,”
Harvard Business Review
, April 1, 2013.

20
   
“shifting our focus from objects or . . . ”
Sutton,
Weird Ideas That Work.

21
   
Why can’t computers do more than compute? . . .
Tim Berners-Lee details from Peter J. Denning, “Innovating the future: from ideas to adoption: futurists and innovators can teach each other lessons to help their ideas succeed”
The Futurist
, January–February 2012; Mary Bellis, “Tim Berners-Lee,” About.com http://inventors.about.com/od/bstartinventors/p/TimBernersLee.htm; and Academy of Achievement website http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/ber1bio-1.

22
   
“How were we going to pay” . . .
From my series of interviews with Joe Gebbia, April 2013.

23
   
“No one would want to stay in . . .”
Barney Jopson, “Dotcom Prodigy Builds Business From Airbed,”
Financial Times
, July 29, 2011.

24
   
Consider, for example, that the average power . . .
Jessica Salter, “Airbnb: The Story behind the $1.3bn Room-letting Website,”
Telegraph
, September 7, 2012.

25
   
“it creates dissonance,” notes Paul Bottino . . .
From my interview with Bottino.

26
   
Why can’t India have 911 emergency service? . . .
From my interview with Jacqueline Novogratz of the Acumen Fund; plus, Shaffi Mather’s November 2009 TED Talk, “A New Way to Fight Corruption.” http://www.ted.com/talks/shaffi_mather_a_new_way_to_fight_corruption.html

27
   
The five whys methodology originated . . .
Taiichi Ohno,
Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production
(Portland, OR: Productivity Press, 1988). Also,
Eric Ries,
The Lean Startup
(New York: Crown Business, 2011).

28
   
IDEO example of five whys . . .
From the company’s “Method Cards,” published by William Stout, November 2003.

29
   
character actor and author Stephen Tobolowsky . . .
From my interview with Tobolowsky, February 17, 2013.

30
   
Why isn’t the water reaching the people who need it? . . .
From my interview with Gary White; also, Ellen McGirt, “Can This Man Save This Girl?”
Fast Company
, July/August 2011.

31
   
“only to end up in ‘incubator graveyards’” . . .
Madeline Drexler, “Looking Under the Hood and Seeing an Incubator,”
New York Times
, December 16, 2008.