When leaders demonstrate that staying open to a question is a form of strength—not vulnerability—it ripples throughout the culture.

James Baldwin wasn’t seeking consensus. He was seeking clarity. And often, that meant asking the kind of questions that exposed, unsettled, and demanded a reckoning—not only with others, but with oneself.

When an organization stops asking—stops challenging itself, questioning its impact, listening with humility—it loses more than innovation.

It loses integrity.

They didn’t just ask questions—they changed the questions being asked.

In today’s business environment—where complexity, volatility, and moral pressure are rising—the quality of our inquiry may determine the future of our strategy, our culture, and our impact.

Psychological safety—the number one predictor of high-performing teams, according to Google’s Project Aristotle—is not built on agreement, but on the freedom to speak up without fear of judgment.

Inquiry is how that freedom is modeled.

Like any of the world’s languages, inquiry has structure.

The most effective cultures of inquiry understand that different questions serve different purposes.

If you're only asking one kind of question—diagnostic, say—you’re limiting your capacity to understand, adapt, and create.

Humble leaders:

• Make space for dissent without defensiveness

• Own their mistakes publicly

• Ask their teams what they’re missing

• Hire people who think differently—and listen when they speak