"It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question” - Eugen Ionesco
“A prudent question is one half of wisdom” – Francis Bacon
As we seek to build a more sustainable financial system, we need to think about whether, collectively, we are asking the right questions. Questions indicate where our priorities lie and can shape norms and behaviours. Questions focus our minds and can get us to the right answers and the right results. The consequence of us not asking the right questions therefore is potentially to turn our focus away from what we actually want to achieve.
In the debate on ownership, can we identify a failure of pension funds at times to ask the right questions of their consultants and fund managers? Has this led to a situation where the consultants and managers assume they know what their clients want and the clients assume that the managers know what they truly want?
“A prudent question is one half of wisdom” – Francis Bacon
As we seek to build a more sustainable financial system, we need to think about whether, collectively, we are asking the right questions. Questions indicate where our priorities lie and can shape norms and behaviours. Questions focus our minds and can get us to the right answers and the right results. The consequence of us not asking the right questions therefore is potentially to turn our focus away from what we actually want to achieve.
In the debate on ownership, can we identify a failure of pension funds at times to ask the right questions of their consultants and fund managers? Has this led to a situation where the consultants and managers assume they know what their clients want and the clients assume that the managers know what they truly want?
Similarly has not asking the right questions blunted the ability of financial advisers and private client managers to fully understand their clients’ needs and interests?
The importance of the right question was highlighted to me by two separate conversations I had with charity trustees last week. On Thursday, I participated in a roundtable on charities and the recession. During the discussion, a leading charity trustee pointed to his ability to ask difficult questions as one of his key contributions to the stewardship of the charities he is involved with.
I then met on Friday with the chair of a leading UK charitable foundation. We were discussing how trustees oversee their investment managers. The key was having the right mix of trustees; both those with experience of the investment industry and ‘novices’, he said. He explained that the ‘novices’ are key because they are not afraid to ask the ‘naïve and daft’ questions.
…. which turns my mind back to where last week began…
On Monday, UKSIF held a seminar with Bob Doppelt, the author of ‘The Power of Sustainable Thinking’. He argues that to create a positive and sustainable future you need to start by transforming your own thinking before you can motivate organisations to change. Central to this is to change the frames through which you see the world. He identifies five key elements and asks us to consider:
what is the problem? what are the stakes? what are the solutions? why now? why me?
Talk about asking the right questions…..
Adam, nice quotations. I've always thought the questions are harder to get right than the answers!
ReplyDeleteInteresting piece of thought. I think, asking the right questions also requires some lost or forgotten traits of character, like the capability to listen and observe, to be critical and skeptical about information and above all to be humble! Those who ask the questions never stand in the limelight!
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