The value of a stupid question

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Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills

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to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.

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As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients.

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When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find

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that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research

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program.

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Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit.

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However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs.

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For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians

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the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.

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Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene.

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Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast.

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I'm your host Toyosi Onwuemene, and it is my absolute pleasure to be talking with you today.

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Thank you so much for tuning in.

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Today I'm excited to talk about the value of a stupid question.

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Yes, the value of a stupid question.

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This episode, the idea for this episode came from a recent coaching session I had with

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a small group of women, and somebody was like, I'm not even sure I should be asking this

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question.

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And then she went ahead and asked the question anyway.

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And I just thought how often we preface our questions with either clarifying that they're

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not really great questions, or maybe they're questions that shouldn't be asked.

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And it's amazing when we do ask them anyway.

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And so I'm here to celebrate the value of stupid in air quotes question.

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No question is a stupid question.

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That's kind of like important to know.

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But one of the greatest questions, I think the greatest stupid questions of all time

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came from a story that you may know well, the Emperor's New Clothes.

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And if I remember the story well, and summarizing it, it's been a long time since I read it.

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This is great tailor, these great tailors who came from out of town, and they found

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this king and they were talking to this king about these amazing clothes that they were

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going to make for the king.

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And when they brought the clothes to the king, the king was like, wait a minute, I don't

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see any clothes.

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And they were like, oh, no, the people who can see these clothes are only those who are

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enlightened and intelligent and amazing.

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And the king was like, sure.

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And so with great pomp and circumstance, they helped the king wear these clothes.

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And the king went out in public and everybody who was intelligent and smart and erudite

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said, wow, Emperor, your clothes are so beautiful.

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And finally, a little child came up and was like, but the Emperor is naked.

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And it took a little child asking the most stupid question ever to reveal that the Emperor

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had been indeed duped.

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And yeah, I don't remember all the details of the story exactly, but you get the gist

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of the story that it takes someone asking a question that nobody else is asking for

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great things to be revealed.

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And that is why I think stupid questions are valuable.

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And so I'm here to talk about seven reasons why stupid questions have value.

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I'm here to talk about seven reasons why stupid questions have value.

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First off, just to clear the air or to set the bar straight or to set the record straight,

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there is no such thing as a stupid question.

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There is no such thing as a stupid question.

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And sometimes people balk against that and they're like, oh no, we've heard stupid questions.

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We've certainly heard them.

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And I just want to reiterate that there really is no such thing as a stupid question because

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every question that's born out of curiosity is born out of curiosity.

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And maybe the person who's asking the question, maybe they have an idea of the answer and

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they're asking the question, or maybe they have no idea of the answer and they're asking

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the question, but either way, someone's raised up their hands to say, I want to ask her question

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and therefore the question has value.

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And the question has value to tell you what that person is thinking about, how they think,

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or what thoughts they have in their mind.

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So if ever you get to a point where you're like, okay, that is a stupid question, I want

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you to pause and say, well, what about the question is stupid?

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What does the question tell you about the person asking the question?

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It may mean that the person doesn't have an idea of the answer.

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Maybe they have a knowledge deficit and your expectation is that, oh, wait a minute, you

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shouldn't have this knowledge deficit.

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You should know this.

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Well, that's okay to say that.

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You may be surprised that this person has a knowledge deficit.

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And I want to say that if you're in a learning situation, learners are supposed to have knowledge

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deficits, that's why they're learners, just to put it out there.

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But instead of saying stupid question, you can say, oh, well, what does this question

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tell me about the person asking it?

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So maybe they don't know, or maybe they're asking a question to provoke thought, or maybe

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they're asking a question so that other people can think about the question too, or maybe

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they're asking a question on behalf of someone else.

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There's always a reason for a question.

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And so the next time you want to just immediately think in judgment, oh, what a stupid question,

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I want you to pause and say, well, is it really stupid?

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What is it about the question that gives me that kind of reaction?

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And what is it about the question that tells me about the person who's asking the question?

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You know, honestly, sometimes people don't actually have a question, but they're trying

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to say something.

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And it really takes someone who's paying attention to stop and say, well, what is this person

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really asking?

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Like, what is the questioner thinking?

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And so it's really about answering the questioner, not necessarily the question.

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But again, I just want to set the record straight that there is no such thing as a stupid question.

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And I hope the next time you think that, you'll think, well, wait a minute, what is the way

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this question has been being asked?

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Or what does the question itself tell me about the person who is asking the question?

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And I say that because for those of us who are leading research programs, you know, over

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time, we're becoming the expert over time, we're the ones who are leading, who are mentoring.

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So we really do need to create safe spaces for our learners.

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And if we are teachers, if we are kind of the guardians of the culture of our space,

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we really got to be careful to respect every learner.

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And respecting learners starts from respecting the learner asking the question, no matter

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what the question may seem like to you.

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And even if you're not the custodian of a culture of the space, you share in the culture,

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you share in the way things are perceived.

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And so if there is someone who is a learner like you, who you're calling out because they're

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asking a question that you don't think they should be asking, think before you judge them

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in your heart.

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And certainly think before you open your mouth in judgment against them.

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No question is a stupid question.

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All right.

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The second thing I want to say is that whenever we think stupid question, this is from the

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perspective of the person asking the question, there's shame and fear that comes with that

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question.

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It's like, oh, I'm not sure I should be asking this question.

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I'm not sure I shouldn't know the answer, but I don't know.

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And we're like, well, maybe this is a stupid question, but it's not.

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We've already established that.

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But really think about the fact that every judgment of yourself and any question that's

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coming out of your mouth is born out of fear and shame.

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It's born out of fear that somebody else will look at you and say, well, why don't you know

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that?

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Have you been studying?

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Or maybe it's born out of shame that someone's going to judge you or they're going to say,

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well, you should already know this.

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Everybody knows that.

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And clearly everybody doesn't know it because you don't know it yet.

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And so from the perspective of the person who's asking the question, don't judge your

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question.

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Don't.

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If you're going to ask a question, be brave and bold and ask the question.

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Don't let fear or shame keep you from asking.

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And if you're going to be courageous and ask, don't preface the question by, oh, maybe this

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is a stupid question because it doesn't actually help to label something as stupid and then

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ask everybody else not to label it as stupid either.

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And so it's okay to be curious.

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It's okay to ask questions and just go ahead and ask anyway.

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So somebody else might think it's stupid.

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Somebody else might judge it, but don't be the one to give them the armor or the ammunition

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to judge your question.

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You just go ahead and ask it.

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So stupid questions or the idea that a question is stupid that's coming from the person asking

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is when we're afraid or when we feel shame.

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And I want to say that in the space in which you occupy in academic medicine, gosh, there's

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a lot of judgment and there is a lot of fear and a lot of shame.

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And I want to say that if we're going to begin to change culture, especially in the environments

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that we lead in, we've really got to come out and be bold and brave and not be afraid

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to ask a question no matter how it may be perceived.

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And again, that's also flipping that around to the person who the question is being asked

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of if you think, oh, I don't know if you should be asking that question.

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I don't know.

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That sounds like a really silly question.

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Think about what is the motive potentially behind the question and maybe ask a question

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yourself.

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And say, hey, what leads you to ask that question?

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And probe a little bit.

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So rather than judge the question, ask questions to clarify the questioner or to clarify why

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the question is being asked.

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Okay.

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Number three, stupid, in quotes again, is a question stupid, a stupid question is a

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sign of curiosity.

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I'll say that again.

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A stupid question, in quotes, is a sign of curiosity.

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If somebody asks a question, they actually are looking for an answer.

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People do not ask questions not to receive answers.

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And so even if it seems as if they should already know the answer to the question, but

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they not, they don't.

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So you as the person who's leading the space or teaching should answer the question and

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just recognize that there's a curiosity that's driving the question.

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Now here's the thing about people that's kind of interesting.

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Sometimes people ask questions and they're not really asking a question.

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They're trying to make a statement.

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And so there was a kind of emotional intelligence needed to really stop and say, hmm, why is

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this person asking this question?

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What may be driving this question?

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And to be bold enough out of your own curiosity to say, I'm not understanding what's prompting

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this question.

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And sometimes someone's asking a question where the answer seems obvious.

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And sometimes they're leading you down a certain pathway.

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You get that a lot when people are asking you yes or no questions where it's like, where

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is this going?

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And if you're thinking that it's okay to say, wait a minute, hmm, I'm thinking I might be

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missing something.

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Where are you leading with this line of questioning?

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And I just want you to think about, especially if you're the person of whom the question

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is being asked.

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And I'm not saying people don't, people sometimes ask questions to provoke you or to challenge

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what you're saying or to call out something as blatantly wrong.

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And sometimes they'll ask questions that seem a little bit off.

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And I just want to say the moment you feel in your mind that, hmm, there's something

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wrong here, you be curious, you get curious.

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That person's curious about something and it may not be exactly the question they're

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asking, but there's curiosity there.

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And so you get curious too and say, hmm, what's prompting you to ask this question?

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Help me understand.

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And so any question that's supposedly stupid is born out of curiosity.

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It may not be directly related to the question that's being asked, but you, the person of

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whom the question is being asked, you stop and be curious and ask a curious question

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of your own.

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You know what?

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Every question does not have to be answered actually.

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It doesn't have to be responded to.

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But if you're going to be respectful and you're going to give a response, you don't necessarily

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have to directly answer the question.

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But it is important to sometimes ask a question to clarify the question that's being asked

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so that you know the purpose for which the questioner is asking.

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So no question is a stupid question.

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They do sometimes people judge questions to be stupid because of fear and shame, but they

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really are a sign of curiosity.

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And if you're confused by the question, you bring out your own curiosity.

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All right.

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The next thing I want to share, that's number four, is that stupid questions lead to great

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insight.

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Stupid questions, again in quotes, lead to great insight.

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Okay.

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What does that mean?

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Well, if it's a real question, no matter how you're judging it, then it helps clarify things.

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And you know, other people may have the same question too.

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And so the moment you ask a question and somebody can clarify the answer, wow, you have insight.

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Great.

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That's awesome.

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Okay.

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But sometimes it really is a question that stokes you.

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You're like, wait a minute, why is this person asking this question?

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This doesn't make sense to me.

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I think this person should know the answer.

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Hmm.

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What are they asking me this question for?

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And so your curiosity can allow them to clarify why they're asking the question.

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And that gives you insight.

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It gives you insight about the person.

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And I give you insight into the fact that they haven't been listening all this while.

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You're like, wait, I just said that.

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And other people too might be like, wait, they just said that.

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And it's okay.

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Most people don't hear things that were said.

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And sometimes as human beings, we need to hear things over and over again.

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And it's okay.

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What I just want to say is that it is important to give people grace.

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No matter why you think the question is being asked, whether you think it's being asked

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to push you, to provoke you, or the person wasn't listening, just be gracious and answer

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again.

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Always, always choose graciousness.

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Always, always choose graciousness in answering a question.

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And if you're the one asking the question that you think is stupid, be gracious and

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ask it anyway.

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Because you know when somebody else might have the same question and you're being brave

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and bold in bringing up the question that other people would otherwise not ask because

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they're afraid themselves.

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That leads me to number five, is that if you ask a stupid question, you're a brave and

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a bold person.

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And I want you to just celebrate the fact that you have bravery and boldness when you

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ask a question.

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You're like, I don't know if I should be asking this question.

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It seems like a stupid question.

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And then you ask it anyway.

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Kudos to you.

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Because what you're doing is you're staring fear and shame in the face.

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You're staring, oh my gosh, you're staring shame and fear in the face.

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And you're saying, well, yeah, okay, maybe someone will think this stupid question, but

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I'm going to ask it anyway.

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So kudos to you.

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It is brave and bold to ask a question that you think people are going to laugh at.

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And honestly, wow, what a great practice.

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To be bold enough to say what's on your mind, even if people start laughing.

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And yeah, it's easier said than done.

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But in reality, if you're going to go do great things, answer great questions, if you're

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going to unearth mysteries in your research program, well, you got to be ready for people

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to laugh at you.

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You know, you just got to be ready.

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It's kind of like par for the course, right?

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Your papers are rejected.

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Your grants are not funded.

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There's so much rejection.

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The moment you decide that, you know, when I'm not going to let this get me down, I need

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the answer to a question, I'm just going to ask it anyway, then good for you.

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You're taking up your courage and you are exercising your ability to be brave and be

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bold.

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You know what other people need to see that too.

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And that leads me to number six, is that stupid questions inspire people?

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They do.

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Now the person to whom you're asking the question may not appreciate the question if they think

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it's stupid and that's on them.

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That's not your problem.

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But there are other people who also didn't understand or they also didn't get it.

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And they wanted to ask the question, but they were afraid.

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And the moment you're like, well, you know what, maybe this sounds stupid to all of you,

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but I'm still going to ask it anyway.

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You inspire other people to ask their own stupid questions too.

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And you know what?

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We need more people asking stupid, in quotes, questions because there are so many things

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that people assume that everybody understands or the things that people feel like, okay,

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it should be inside knowledge, but it's not inside our knowledge.

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And it's important that people highlight that by asking questions.

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And so every time you stand up and you're thinking, oh, this was about to be a stupid

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question, I want you to ask it anyway, because somebody else in the room needs you to ask

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that question.

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Finally, number seven is that stupid questions should always be allowed in your space.

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No matter where you are, I want you to welcome every question that may sound stupid, that

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may sound out of line, even if you're the one asking the question, and especially if

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you're the one to whom the question is being posed.

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Because the moment that you allow the question in your space, then you are being gracious.

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And every time somebody is gracious in the space, it creates more room for more grace.

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And so have you ever been to those sessions where someone gives a presentation and the

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questions are so cutthroat and they're so ugly?

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Yeah, but when the person answers with grace, it just changes the atmosphere.

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And to be honest, the person who's asking ugly questions or trying to be provocative

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looks bad.

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And I'm not saying that the goal is to make anybody look bad, because that's just not

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really the point and it's not really worth it.

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But it's just to say that if you are going to diffuse the kind of tensions and the kind

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of like tough environments in which people are made to feel like they're really small,

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if you're going to contribute to building environments where people are held in high

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positive regard, you've got to contribute by being gracious, even when other people

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are not.

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So the next time you have a question, ask it graciously too.

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But if you are asked the question, be gracious in your response, even when you don't feel

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like it's a worthy question or you feel like you just answer the question, just answer

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it again.

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Be gracious, because it changes the atmosphere and that's how we promote learning and that's

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how we encourage others to show up and be themselves and ask the questions they think

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are stupid as well.

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All right, so I've been talking about the value of a stupid question.

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Number one, a question is stupid.

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Every question has value.

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Number two, stupid questions are really thought to be stupid because there's fear and there's

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shame and our job is to remove the fear and the shame associated with showing up in any

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space.

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Number three is that stupid questions are really a sign of curiosity and if you don't

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understand why the question was asked, you get curious and try to get behind the reason

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for the question.

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So curiosity is necessary when it comes to questions that might look stupid.

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Number four, stupid questions actually lead to great insight.

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Number five, stupid questions are just bravery.

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Yes, the person who's asking the question is bold.

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Stupid questions inspire people because other people have those questions too.

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And finally, stupid questions should be allowed in your space because you encourage your space

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to be beautiful and kind and nurturing when you allow stupid questions in your space.

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All right, thank you so much for listening today.

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It's been a pleasure talking with you.

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I look forward to talking with you again next time on the Clinician Researcher.

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Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher podcast where academic

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clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they

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have a mentor.

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If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself.

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Someone else needs to hear it.

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So take a minute right now and share it.

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As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation

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of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.