What I’m Reading Wednesday: Great management questions

April 16, 2014 - By Marisa Palmieri

I like a good question. After all, I get paid to ask questions and report on the answers. That’s probably why this Inc. article grabbed my attention.

“100 Great Questions Every Entrepreneur Should Ask”
Inc.
Last year we published the October Business Planner issue of Landscape Management around a similar inquisitive theme. We commissioned a series of articles answering the questions landscape business owners should be asking to run more efficient, profitable businesses. This Inc. article doesn’t answer any questions, but that’s not the point. The point is entrepreneurs and mangers always should be challenging themselves and their teams to do better, whether it’s by coming up with big ideas or making incremental improvements. Here are some of my favorites from the list:

4. What is it like to work for me? –Robert Sutton, author and management professor at Stanford

24. What should we stop doing? –Peter Drucker, management expert and author

33. Among our stronger employees, how many see themselves at the company in three years? How many would leave for a 10 percent raise from another company? –Jonathan Rosenberg, adviser to Google management

62. Do we say “no” to customers for no reason? –Matt Dixon
You may have created your customer policies at a time when you lacked resources, technology wasn’t up-to-snuff, or low service levels were the industry norm. Have those circumstances changed? If so, your customer policies should change too.

What questions do you ask yourself? What would you add to the list?

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