How to Use This Book -- A Warning -- Introduction: Answers, You Want Answers -- The Power and Problem of Why? -- Questions Leaders Need to Ask Themselves -- What does leadership mean? -- How do you feel about being a leader? -- What do you want to be remembered for? -- Are you happy? -- What are you afraid of? -- Are you sure you want to ask questions? -- Questions Leaders Need to Ask Customers -- Why do you do business with us? -- Why do you do business with our competition? -- How and when have we made it hard for you to do business with us? -- What will you need from us in the future? -- If you were me, what's one thing you'd change about my organization? -- How can we effectively tell you that we're grateful for your business? -- Questions Leaders Need to Ask Employees About the Business -- How do we make money? -- How does your work contribute to our success? -- How could we save money? -- How could you make your job more effective? -- What's the most important thing you know about our customers? -- What's something we could offer to our customers? -- Who do you see as our competition, and what do you know about them?

Deeper Questions Leaders Need to Ask Employees -- What gets in the way of your doing your job? -- What does our leadership team do that gets in the way of your doing your job? -- What's a recent management decision you didn't understand? -- How could we communicate management decisions more effectively? -- If you could change one thing about our organization's collective behavior, what would it be? -- What's a potential benefit we could offer that would be helpful to you? -- What is it like to work on a team in our organization? -- How do you feel at the start of your workweek? -- How do you feel at the end of your workweek? -- What volunteer work do you do? -- What makes you proud of working as a part of our organization? -- What's something you've learned in the past week? -- What brings you joy in your work? -- What do you do for the fun of it? -- What gives your life meaning? -- Questions to Ask in Special Situations -- Questions for New Employees -- Why did you decide to join our firm ... really? -- If you had to describe our organization in one word, what would that word be? -- What's a great question I could ask someone who's new to our organization? -- What questions can I answer for you? -- Questions for Coaching and Mentoring Sessions -- What are the strengths you bring to the workplace? -- What skills do you need to learn? -- What skills do you need to practice? -- Who in our organization do you need to know? -- What work would you like to be doing in five years? -- Questions for Newly Promoted Leaders -- Why do you think we made you a leader? -- What did the best leader you ever had do? -- What do you need to learn to be a great leader? -- How can we support you as you grow into this leadership position? -- Questions During a Crisis -- Are you all right? -- What do you need to know? -- What do you need?

Questions Leaders Need to Answer -- What do you see happening in our organization over the next twelve months? -- What is the future of our industry? -- What gets you excited about the future? -- How do you learn about our customers? -- How do you know what I do in my job? -- How can I advance in our organization? -- How do you make decisions? -- How do you make time to think? -- What makes you angry in the workplace? -- How do you measure success? -- How do you re-ignite your enthusiasm for your job? -- What do you love about your job? -- What do you do just for fun? -- What gives your life meaning? -- Answers for Special Situations -- During a Business Crisis -- What's happening? -- What's going to happen next? -- What's going to happen to me? -- Am I going to have a job next month? -- What's the long-term impact of this crisis? -- During a Merger or Acquisition -- What's going to change? What's going to happen to my job? -- Who will be my leader? -- Will our values last? -- During the Personal Crisis of an Employee -- What will the organization do to support me? What are my benefits? What will this mean for my career? -- Delivering Tough Answers -- Answering when the answer is I don't know -- Answering when the answer is No -- Answering when there isn't an answer -- Answering when you can't answer -- Answering when no one wants to hear the answer -- Answering a question that's just too personal -- Conclusion: Some Final Questions -- Appendix: Good Questions from Other Leaders.