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great firms as diverse as Marconi, Kuomi and Enron might have been
avoided or at least mitigated.

As an executive with international responsibilities I found that if I
asked the right questions I could accelerate my learning and I made better
and quicker decisions. Today, when the business cycle is accelerating with
a crazy velocity and the risk of failure is growing greater almost daily,
asking the right questions is becoming the factor that differentiates
between success and disaster. Too many so-called business gurus appear to
have concluded that the faster pace of business life makes thinking obso-
lete. This is nonsense. Executive or consultant, manager or committed
employee, we all need to hone our thinking skills so that we can think and
act faster and be ever more effective. The only way to do that is to ask the
right questions not only of others, but also of ourselves.

This book is a collection of the questions that I have found lead directly
to the best results in all aspects of my work. What they do for me they will
do for you.

Key questions to be considered by every senior
executive every day

In their groundbreaking work on market dominance, Competing for the
Future, Chris Prahalad and Gary Hamel suggested some questions that
ought constantly be mulled over by businesspeople. I paraphrase, but the
key ideas remain.

n How can we best use our present competencies and strengths to
better exploit today’s most profitable markets and ensure that we
are building a firm foundation to enjoy ever-increasing prosperity
in the future?

n What new skills and competencies do we have to acquire to better
exploit today’s most worthwhile markets?

n How can we apply our current strengths and competencies to take
a leading role in the best, most profitable markets of the future?

n What new skills, knowledge and competencies do we have to
develop or acquire to create the rules by which others have to play
in the most profitable markets of the future?

I will now examine each question and outline the advantages that come
from even the most cursory, but regular, consideration of each.

Using competencies and strengths

How can we best use our present competencies and strengths to
better exploit today’s most profitable markets and ensure that

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