As you might know, 42 is the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything, at least according to “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”
The only problem is that nobody knows the question.
Which couldn’t be more timely. We’re living in a time that’s obsessed with answers.
Open any app or tune into any media and you’re bombarded with all kinds of answers on all kinds of questions you never asked.
Even worse, when you do ask a question, you’ll get all sorts of answers from people who didn’t listen closely, don’t understand the context, or simply have no clue what they are talking about.
Answers feel like the shortcut to results: Know this, do that, and everything will be fine.
The appeal of an answer is that it’s definite. It’s an end to a story. Even better: When someone gives you a simple answer it can feel like you’ve reached the summit without having to climb.
Until you discover that you’re on the wrong summit. Or only halfway there. Or something even worse …
Because e.g. the answer wasn’t applicable in that case. Or only half the truth. Or outdated. Or plain wrong. Because, well, what was the question again?
When everyone seems to have answers to almost anything, it’s a good habit to start looking at the questions again. Answers get you only as far as the question went.
Without a good question, answers are meaningless.
Just as “42” can be the answer to a lot of things and will remain meaningless until we know exactly what the question was, many answers that we get today are meaningless because we haven’t agreed on the question or the question was unclear from the very start.
And with AI generating 42s faster than ever, this problem is only going to get worse as the flood of answers is growing by the hour.
What we need is leaders who ask better questions and make sure the team is climbing the right mountain.
Because as the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy so beautifully proves, questions can be harder to find than the answer.
Keep lighting the path,
Michael
