---
title: 'The Art of Asking Better Questions'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=osOR3nusP2I'
video_id: 'osOR3nusP2I'
date: 2026-08-12
duration_sec: 51
---

# The Art of Asking Better Questions

> Source: [The Art of Asking Better Questions](https://youtube.com/watch?v=osOR3nusP2I)

## Summary

The video discusses the importance of asking good questions as a skill for learning and problem-solving. It emphasizes understanding your goals and what you don't know, and provides an example of a mentee learning through guided questioning.

### Key Points

- **Why ask good questions** [[00:12]] — Asking good questions forces you to understand your goal, your knowledge gaps, and what you've tried.
- **Better question formula** [[00:24]] — Instead of 'what do I need to learn?', ask about what you want to achieve and what specific knowledge today will help.
- **Avoid unnecessary learning** [[00:24]] — Defining what you don't need to learn helps you prioritize what you do need to learn.
- **Learning through investigation** [[00:39]] — A student was guided to investigate and find answers herself, which took longer but taught her critical thinking skills.

## Transcript

One of the things I get my mentees to do is I have an entire training on asking good questions, right? Because this is a skill that they need to have at the workplace, right? And asking good questions forces you to understand what it is that you're trying
to achieve, what it is that you don't know, what it is that you've tried. And it's the same principle. So the same principle applies to, well, what do I need to learn? You know, that, that is not a great question. A better question is what do I need? What am I trying to achieve?
What do I need to learn today to get me closer to that direction? And what do I not need to, what do I, answering the question, What do I not need to learn in my view helps a lot with then choosing what you need to learn. So one of my students, she had a problem and she was asking and she asked good questions and rather
than give her the answer directly, I was training her to ask better questions because then she could sleuth and investigate her way to the answer. Yes, it was longer. It was more painful. It took a lot more time for me and it took a lot more time for her, but she was learning critical skills in the process.