John’s Question

I’m the kind of guy who likes to ask questions. I’m curious. People who know me understand that if they have a question and they don’t feel like asking it, just wait long enough for me to raise my hand and ask it.

At a recent lunch with John C. Maxwell, renowned for his 40+ books on leadership, he offered a question I hadn’t heard before: What question do you like to be asked?

Hmmm.

I hadn’t considered this before. Several new questions popped into my head. In what context? Personal or business? Spiritual or material? From whom? As I observed myself reacting like this, I acknowledged that I was overthinking it. But it wasn’t easy to get out of the way and let a question emerge.

A few deep breaths later, I had my answer. If you read my previous blog post about Service to Self versus Service to Others (no right answer), you will know that I fall into the Service to Others category. Because of that, thinking about what I like to be asked was difficult. But then I realized that the question I like to be asked is: “How would you like to be of service?”

When I am asked questions like this one, I feel my energy rise. I enjoy the opportunity to do something to serve someone else. It doesn’t mean I don’t want things for myself, but John wanted to know what we most enjoyed being asked. He wanted to know what questions unlock something we like to talk about, or gave us an opportunity to show who we are. For me, it’s someone asking how I think I can help.

Before you leave this post, I invite you to answer this for yourself: What question do you like to be asked? Spend some time thinking on it, and allow the answer to help you understand yourself better.

Until next time, Sherif