Questioning Success

In my experience with new projects/initiatives, I’ve seen three general types of success-related questions that get asked. A single person could theoretically ask all of them, but more often than not each person focuses on just one of the three. In truth, these questions are far more than just questions (as most are). They represent drastically different philosophies, approaches, and attitudes towards change:

1. “Could it possibly ever succeed considering _____?”
2. “What should we do to evaluate whether or not it succeeded?”
3. “What can we do to make it succeed?”

Each question is asked innocently, with the assumption that the answer will help direct the project toward success.

The secret, though, is that in reality the direction toward or away from success has already been set by choosing which question to ask.