Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

I can’t seem to think of the right questions at the right time. There are a couple of questions that I can always ask to compensate.

I sit with someone trying to learn something from them. I ask; they answer, and we repeat. Our time together ends.

Fifteen minutes later, after we have parted company, it hits me—the three questions I should have asked while we were conversing. Too late.

There is some old saying about growing too soon old and too late smart (someone even wrote a book with that title, imagine that). The brilliant ideas come too late. Why is that so? Why can’t I…?

There are a few things I can do to compensate for my all-too-late realizations. I can always ask one or two questions. These include:

(1) May I come back later with questions that come to mind as I consider this conversation?

and

(2) What questions do you expect me to ask now?

and then to toss in a few mind-bending ones…

• What is the question you expected me to ask that I didn’t ask?
• What is the question you want me to ask that I didn’t ask?
• What is the question you didn’t want me to ask that I didn’t ask?

I suppose the list of extra questions is longer than given here. Still, numbers (1) and (2) should be printed in the heading of all lists of questions that I take to a question-and-answer session. Now, why didn’t I think of this back in 198x….