Alison Wood Brooks

That's right. Our work suggests that asking more questions is like the sort of baseline best thing that you can do in your life to get better at question asking. Just ask more. But there's a lot of nuance in the types of questions that are better and worse in certain circumstances. So open-ended questions, invite your partner to share, right? These are questions are like, what's on your mind?

That's right. Our work suggests that asking more questions is like the sort of baseline best thing that you can do in your life to get better at question asking. Just ask more. But there's a lot of nuance in the types of questions that are better and worse in certain circumstances. So open-ended questions, invite your partner to share, right? These are questions are like, what's on your mind?

Or what was your morning like? What are you excited about lately? These questions that are born of curiosity that invite your partner to share their perspective with you. Whereas closed-ended questions, as many of us know, usually have a very distinct answer. So, do you like how this conversation is going? Did you sleep well last night? sort of yes-no questions are very closed.

Or what was your morning like? What are you excited about lately? These questions that are born of curiosity that invite your partner to share their perspective with you. Whereas closed-ended questions, as many of us know, usually have a very distinct answer. So, do you like how this conversation is going? Did you sleep well last night? sort of yes-no questions are very closed.

Or what was your morning like? What are you excited about lately? These questions that are born of curiosity that invite your partner to share their perspective with you. Whereas closed-ended questions, as many of us know, usually have a very distinct answer. So, do you like how this conversation is going? Did you sleep well last night? sort of yes-no questions are very closed.

And so in our research, what we found is open-ended questions are so powerful because your partner answers in more than twice the word count compared to closed-ended questions. This is powerful in any conversation, but particularly in conflictual conversations or when you're negotiating and we're learning information about your counterpart is so pivotal.

And so in our research, what we found is open-ended questions are so powerful because your partner answers in more than twice the word count compared to closed-ended questions. This is powerful in any conversation, but particularly in conflictual conversations or when you're negotiating and we're learning information about your counterpart is so pivotal.

And so in our research, what we found is open-ended questions are so powerful because your partner answers in more than twice the word count compared to closed-ended questions. This is powerful in any conversation, but particularly in conflictual conversations or when you're negotiating and we're learning information about your counterpart is so pivotal.

Asking an open ended question like, what do you care about or what's important to you here? You're going to learn so much more information about their perspective and their needs and their motives and their positions than will you accept this offer?

Asking an open ended question like, what do you care about or what's important to you here? You're going to learn so much more information about their perspective and their needs and their motives and their positions than will you accept this offer?

Asking an open ended question like, what do you care about or what's important to you here? You're going to learn so much more information about their perspective and their needs and their motives and their positions than will you accept this offer?

That's right. When we studied question asking among negotiators, what we found is that only 9% of turns across hundreds of conversations included open-ended questions. And this is a huge mistake. Open-ended questions are the most direct pathway to extract information from your counterpart because they're going to answer you in a much more open-ended way.

That's right. When we studied question asking among negotiators, what we found is that only 9% of turns across hundreds of conversations included open-ended questions. And this is a huge mistake. Open-ended questions are the most direct pathway to extract information from your counterpart because they're going to answer you in a much more open-ended way.

That's right. When we studied question asking among negotiators, what we found is that only 9% of turns across hundreds of conversations included open-ended questions. And this is a huge mistake. Open-ended questions are the most direct pathway to extract information from your counterpart because they're going to answer you in a much more open-ended way.

Follow-up questions are superheroes. They are amazing. When we studied... 1,100 speed dates, so people going on these four-minute speed dates, what we found is that people who asked more questions were more likely to get second dates, so their partners were more likely to say yes to them.

Follow-up questions are superheroes. They are amazing. When we studied... 1,100 speed dates, so people going on these four-minute speed dates, what we found is that people who asked more questions were more likely to get second dates, so their partners were more likely to say yes to them.

Follow-up questions are superheroes. They are amazing. When we studied... 1,100 speed dates, so people going on these four-minute speed dates, what we found is that people who asked more questions were more likely to get second dates, so their partners were more likely to say yes to them.

So much so that if you ask just one more question on each of your 20 dates, you would convert one more of your dates into a yes. Wow. one question on each date. And what we found when we dove into the actual language that people were using and the types of questions people were asking, we realized that this effect was driven almost entirely by follow-up questions.

So much so that if you ask just one more question on each of your 20 dates, you would convert one more of your dates into a yes. Wow. one question on each date. And what we found when we dove into the actual language that people were using and the types of questions people were asking, we realized that this effect was driven almost entirely by follow-up questions.

So much so that if you ask just one more question on each of your 20 dates, you would convert one more of your dates into a yes. Wow. one question on each date. And what we found when we dove into the actual language that people were using and the types of questions people were asking, we realized that this effect was driven almost entirely by follow-up questions.