I just finished reading Elon Musk, a biography by Ashlee Vance. I was fascinated by Elon’s ability to dream up big, audacious visions, that often challenged long-held industry assumptions. I imagine him creating these visions by continuously asking, and them refining a set of questions that pushes the edges of what we think is possible.
For Tesla, he seemed to have asked, “Why can’t an electric car be THE best car on the road, not just the best electric car?” (157). And then Consumer Reports gave the Tesla Model S the highest score of all cars on the market.
For SpaceX, he asked, “Why can’t we fire rockets into space and then have them land back on earth? This way we can reuse them to not only dramatically reduce costs, but to also increase the frequency of rocket launches to increase learning and innovation” (12). Here is a video of them doing exactly that. The result? They have come from nowhere to take business from Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Big visions, the ones that emotionally connect to you, your employees, and your customers often start with asking good questions. They come from challenging the status quo. And they come from trial and error until you get it right.
What questions are you asking that challenges a long-held view of the future of your organization?
Is your team aligned and rowing together in the same direction?
Looking for a way to see how aligned your team is on your direction and strategy? Have them take this 3-minute strategy assessment and use the individual scores to get the conversation going!