Humble Inquiry

The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling

By: Edgar H. Schein

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's Summary

The key to effective communication. Communication is essential in a healthy organization. But all too often when we interact with people - especially those who report to us - we simply tell them what we think they need to know. This shuts them down. To generate bold new ideas, to avoid disastrous mistakes, to develop agility and flexibility, we need to practice Humble Inquiry. Ed Schein defines Humble Inquiry as "the fine art of drawing someone out, of asking questions to which you do not know the answer, of building a relationship based on curiosity and interest in the other person." In this seminal work, Schein contrasts Humble Inquiry with other kinds of inquiry, shows the benefits Humble Inquiry provides in many different settings, and offers advice on overcoming the cultural, organizational, and psychological barriers that keep us from practicing it.

©2013 Edgar H Schein (P)2014 Gildan Media LLC

Critic Reviews

“I have had the privilege of working with Ed Schein. Reading Humble Inquiry I could hear his voice asking me those humble questions that joined us in a mutual search for the answer. His book distills what he has learned and practiced in a lifetime of helping high-powered leaders be even more successful.”—Anthony F. Earley, Jr., Chairman, CEO and President, PG&E Corporation

Get to the point!!!

I would have given this five stars...but. The basic information is very intriguing and pretty good. But this is an audiobook, not a college textbook! I don't want academic references in an audiobook! I also don't want an endless array of case studies where the author waxes on about his whole career. I would rather have a few illustrative case studies and then some practical advice.

As a professional management consultant, I was very interested in his discussion of Level 1, 2 and 3 relationships with clients. I got that, great. Now tell me how to cultivate those levels, how to avoid the pitfalls, etc. Didn't get that. I even bought another one of his books that seemed like it would get into that deeper. It was even worse!

Worth the read

What I loved about this book is that it was a practical guide to implementing what can be a mostly abstract concept. Schein, who I have always trusted as one of the leading voices in organizational behaviour, leadership and change management has taken an anti-oppressive approach often used in the human services field and made it not only relevant but accessible to those in more traditional private or less human focused environments. Not only that but the principles of Humble inquiry can be practice everywhere, which makes this not a "to do" book but a "to live by" book. My favourite kind of learning! Will be listening again and again!

Ask questions about others sincerely

That's it. Point made over and over for 8 chapters. Will need to put it on 1.6 or more as the reader is methodical and slow.

Great book for leaders

This book provides insightful and actionable tools for leaders and others on how to inquire humbly in the workplace, at home and in other aspects of life

Some good points but just ok

There were some good points, but the book was just ok. Thank goodness audible allows for me to speed up the narration. The narrator was so slow that I was forced to put audible on 2 times normal speed in order to not fall asleep listening to the narrator.

Very dry content

I love learning and listening to audiobooks and podcast but this book was just hard to get down.

I could only listen for 30 minutes before I got bored. It took me a month to get through.

The concept is great and spot on. You could get the idea in 20 minutes.

too general

while it has a very important concept, and some specific examples, I feel the book feel short in providing practical guidance how to apply the concepts.

the narration is good, but extremely slow. I listened to it at 1.5x speed, which made it reasonable.

Great book to increase your emotional intelligence

Great read and practical insights to approaching conflicts differently and leading with influence. Book leaves reader feeling personally challenged to try new approaches to communication with peers, bosses, and employees. Worth while read and on my list to re-read within the next year.

More technical than practical

I'm a pretty technical guy myself. In fact, I'm a very technical. I like doing research and learning about just about anything. This book read almost like a textbook. It was a lot of theory and ideas and was limited on practical application. As a business owner and professional coach, I was hoping to learn how to ask better questions that would help me make more progress with my employees and my coaching clients. I didn't get as much of that as I would have liked. There were certainly some thought provoking ideas in this audiobook and I did take away some useful information for sure, it just wasn't what I was expecting.

Wholehearted Leadership

Humble Inquiry places priority on building trust and relationships. He saves the self-inquiry process for the end of the book. If more people/leaders could slow down and ask humble inquiry questions, they would have a much different impact on the people around them. This is simply good neuroscience.

Yes okay it's good

But I feel I've asked far too many badly worded questions this week. Theory is good but in practice I sound like I'm on neighbours, lilting every sentence up at the end to form a flaming question, meh I'm too easily influenced

Schein's quality of thinking shines through!

Would you consider the audio edition of Humble Inquiry to be better than the print version?

I always choose the audio edition because of the flexibility in listening to it anywhere

What was one of the most memorable moments of Humble Inquiry?

It is a recipe for our times, when the art of humility may be getting lost

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me hopeful that there is a silent majority out there who aren't the ones grabbing the headlines and still have values such as humility that are important to them

Short and sweet eye opener

Listed to this book first time one the go! I think I need to re listen at least twice to embed new ideas!
Enjoyed it!

great book

it was great but more about communicating not remaining humble of which I was looking for!

listen more than you speak: nothing new

this book is a brief refresher about the need to listen more than you speak if you want to learn anything.

interesting and perhaps even enlightening for anyone who does not read or listen to books about psychology, sociology and social sciences. However if you have a reasonable understanding of these fields this books a very simple reminder with some interesting examples.

Ask, don’t tell. Listen without status

I would recommend to everyone who must lead a team, coach, teach or interact with others at work and home.

I have already updated an email and some conversations based on this book. Instead of saying, “We should do this?”, I asked, “Is this something that would make the way we work together easier?” and “Is this something we could develop together?”

Sometimes, it seemed unnecessarily long. But given the helpfulness of the premise of the book. It is easily forgiven.

Eye openning, soul searching and practical

This book has made me look at myself and the way I communicate with others. It has answered many questions relating to the success or failure of my personal and professional relationships. I feel helped and improved. Fully recommended!