Wiley Europe News Room

By Kevin Duncan
Published by Wiley, February 08

So What? gets straight to the point so you can cut through the nonsense and do the same... It's quite simple. We all know how irritating it can be when a child repeatedly asks why? And yet we are often unable to answer the simplest of questions in a clear, direct way, and frequently have no idea why we are doing something. This problem has a huge bearing on inefficiency in business, and goes some way to explaining why so many people spend so much time doing things that have no bearing on the true purpose.

By behaving like a child, in a genuinely inquisitive way, you can get right to the heart of the matter and save yourself hours, days, and months of anguish. Questions such as so what?, why?, how?, and when? can be hugely effective when applied in the right context, and this book shows you how to use them.

It's not a complicated approach, and it is perfect for self-employed people, who can ask the questions of themselves. But it does require some subtlety when used with colleagues. So the book helps the reader navigate through the potential conflict that may arise from asking a boss "Do we really need to do this?" or "What's the point of that?"

Once all the right questions have been posed, there is a final sure-fire method for testing whether something is relevant and helpful to the matter in hand. By completing the sentence "Something must be wrong if...", with a true statement of the current reality, it is simple to work out if you are wasting your time. For example, "Something must be wrong if I am spending three days a week in meetings."

• So be more inquisitive. Let the questions roll. Pay attention to what the answers are. Learn. And you will immediately improve the quality of your life, and the success of your business.

About the author

Kevin Duncan is a business adviser, marketing expert and author. He was educated at Oxford and has worked in communications for 25 years, advising companies such as British Airways, Carlsberg-Tetley, Diageo, Heineken, Lloyds TSB, Marks & Spencer, Norwich Union, Reuters, Scottish Courage, Sony, and Virgin.