Curated Questions: Conversations Celebrating the Power of Questions!

"A good answer can close a loop. A good question opens one." - Ken Woodward What if the quality of your questions has less to do with how curious you are and more to do with how much you know? A recent study from the Technion in Israel tracked 68 students over a semester of Introduction to Psychology. Researchers measured not just what students learned, but how their question-asking changed. The findings are worth sitting with. Domain-specific questions got sharper, more original, more complex. General questions did not improve. In some cases, they declined. Knowledge doesn't flatten curiosity. It sharpens it. This episode traces that finding through 32 years of Navy acquisition, through 1,300 conversations on a 2,085-mile walk through Washington DC, and through a conversation with Seth Godin about tension, rubber bands, and the question that only becomes possible after the preparation is done. The argument is simple. You don't become a better questioner by wanting to ask better questions. You become one by learning more about what you're walking into. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions?)) Keep questioning! Resources Mentioned Raz, T. & Kenett, Y.N. (2026). Knowledge reshapes inquiry by changing question asking ability and impacting academic assessment. *npj Science of Learning*, 11, 19. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-026-00402-0 Seth Godin Ryan Holiday Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"My tree was planted in a metal bucket." - Ken Woodward Some mornings, the ordinary holds the weight of everything. A walk to the garage. An attempt to correct a gait. A drift back to comfort. Ken opens this solo episode with that image and asks why returning to comfort is the default setting of an adult life. Drawing on the work of Nigerian-born British photographer and activist Misan Harriman, Ken investigates the mourning that accompanies genuine personal growth. The mourning for the world you thought you believed in. The mourning for the person you were sure was good enough. Ken traces his own reckoning through the identities that once added up to a clean equation. Each one a nutrient in the soil he was given. Each one another layer of metal on the bucket his tree was planted in. Growing. Just with no room to expand. This episode is about noticing the bucket. Cracking it open. And dragging your roots toward soil that can actually hold them. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions?)) Keep questioning! Resources Mentioned Misan Harriman Harriman Instagram Post Heraclitus Producer Ben

"Some questions need eye contact. Some questions need silence. Some questions need the telltale crack in our own voice that tells you, you've finally said something true." - Ken Woodward We live in a moment when almost any question can be answered instantly, eloquently, and for free. That is a remarkable thing. It is also worth examining carefully. In this episode, Ken Woodward draws a distinction between two kinds of questions: tool questions, which AI handles brilliantly, and threshold questions, which require something the machine cannot provide. Time. Risk. The sound of your own voice saying something true for the first time. This is not an episode about the dangers of AI. It is an episode about the quiet cost of convenience, what we give up when we trade a live, risky question for a fast, polished answer. And what it looks like to protect the capacity for wonder in an age that makes outsourcing almost everything feel like efficiency. Three practices. A few guardrails. And one question to carry with you when you close the machine. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions?)) Keep questioning! Resources Mentioned Claire Brown The Art Engager Podcast Cole Arthur Riley Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"Claiming your agency to question is a renegade step into your full humanity." - Ken Woodward April 12, 2016, marked the first public demonstration of Kenneth Woodward's obsession with questions. A decade, 80 episodes, and 140,000 downloads later, he returns to the shoreline to share what a decade of study, conversation, and lived experience has washed up at his feet. From a daily inquiry blog that cost him sleep, to 1,300 conversations across 2,085 miles of Washington D.C. streets, to podcast conversations with some of the world's deepest thinkers, questions have been the through line. In this milestone solo episode, Kenneth offers ten honest observations about questions, how they create space, signal desire for change, exercise agency, and reveal what we most need to face. Not conclusions from a master, but mile markers from a fellow pilgrim still very much on the road. The practice continues. So does the asking. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions?)) Keep questioning!

"It is easier simply to tell the truth, even if you've made a mistake, because what it does is build credibility over time." - Andrew Caulk What happens when the questions leaders most need to ask are the ones they're most afraid to voice? Andrew Caulk spent two decades in the Air Force as an information strategist, and he's seen how institutions, military, political, and personal, manage their narratives by avoiding the hardest inquiries. In this conversation, Andrew and Ken explore how misinformation and disinformation actually work, why truth is more strategically sustainable than deception, and how the attention economy is quietly rewiring our ability to think slowly. Andrew shares what senior leaders refused to ask aloud in military war games, what the casualty projections for a Taiwan conflict actually look like, and why American will to fight may be the most underexamined variable in geopolitical strategy. The conversation also turns to children, curiosity, and how the questions we allow, or suppress, in our homes shape the next generation's capacity to navigate a noisy world. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions?)) Keep questioning! Resources Mentioned  Cognitive Strategy Group  Right to Forget Law Helio Fred Garcia Inside The  Manosphere documentary  Battlefield Three  Ad Fontis Media Bias Chart  Trust Me, I'm Lying by Ryan Holiday Anchorman 2  Bloomberg Wall Street Journal Associated Press (AP) Reuters The Economist  SCOTUSblog  Freakonomics Ground News  Planet Word Museum  cognitive strategy group.com  Being Human Church  Dr. Kori Schake Jim Mattis Andrew Caulk on LinkedIn Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"Those scripts are not wisdom. They are load-bearing walls for other people's power." - Ken Woodward Every room has a question nobody asks. Sometimes that's a failure of courage. Sometimes it's something else entirely, a hierarchy so explicit it pre-sorts who is permitted to speak before anyone opens their mouth. In this episode, Ken reflects on a $100M federal acquisition program derailed by a senior stakeholder who wielded disruption as a weapon. The question that could have changed the outcome existed. It just never reached the person who needed to hear it. Drawing on that experience, a chance conversation with a Vietnamese businessman named Kien, and the current civic moment, Ken explores why we swallow necessary questions, and what it costs us when we do. He offers a ladder of micro-courage for asking harder questions at every level of power, from the private to the public square. One braver question. That's the practice. That's where it starts. Fellow pilgrims, this one's for the rooms we've all been in. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) Keep questioning!

"The most powerful questions aren't really the ones that demand an answer, but really demand a presence." - Jenny Chan Jenny Chan founded Pacific Atrocities Education after her grandmother's death surfaced a box of wartime relics of military yen, rice rationing coupons, and decades of unexplained anger toward Japanese culture. That inheritance of unasked questions launched Jenny into the hidden history of the Pacific Asian War: comfort women, Unit 731's biological experimentation program, and the postwar immunity deals that let war criminals become CEOs and prime ministers. Jenny's research method centers on presence before inquiry. Sitting with survivors long enough to earn the right to ask hard questions. She sees historical memory not as a burden but as an essential context for understanding today's geopolitical decisions. Her work with survivors, students, and Japanese citizens seeking truth suggests that healing begins when forgotten stories are finally allowed to be told. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions?)) Keep questioning!

"The harm was architectural. It was not a matter of intention. It was a matter of never checking the blueprint before I opened my mouth." - Ken Woodward The Questions You're Living Inside: How to Stop Answering Questions You Never Chose is the premise of this week's solo episode. Every question builds a room. Most of us never notice the construction. In this solo episode, Ken Woodward explores what he calls the architecture of questions, the load-bearing assumptions embedded in every question we ask, answer, or inherit. Using a morning commute observation about a flatbed truck carrying prefabricated wall panels, Ken unpacks why the questions shaping our lives were often built by someone else, for someone else's benefit. Through two anchor stories, a painful misheard exchange during his 2,085-mile walk through Washington D.C., and an emotional moment from his conversation with Naomi Campbell of the Right Question Institute, Ken traces the difference between a question's skeleton and its resonance. The invitation is not demolition. It is something prior to answering. Read the blueprint first. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) Keep questioning!

"It's not having the answers I teach people — it's having the questions. And that just upsets the entire architecture of safe thinking." - Phil Liebman Phil Liebman spent years being mentored by one of the most relentless questioners he'd ever encountered. It changed everything about how he leads and coaches. In this conversation, Phil unpacks the difference between knowing mode and learning mode, why most of us were systematically educated out of curiosity, and what it actually takes to form a powerful question. He introduces his cycle of curiosity and certainty, a four-quadrant framework that explains why three-quarters of the best thinking happens before any action is taken. Phil shares hard-won lessons from decades of executive coaching, traces his intellectual foundation back to mentor Dr. Lee Thayer, and makes the case that leadership is a performing art, not a management science. The episode closes with a personal health scare that became an unexpected masterclass in what curiosity can do when fear shows up uninvited. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) Keep questioning! Resources Mentioned ALPS Leadership (https://alpsleadership.com/) Dr. Lee Thayer (https://thethayerinstitute.org/about-us/) Vistage (https://www.vistage.com/) Lynn Borton - Choose to Be Curious podcast (https://lynnborton.com/) Stony Brook University (https://www.stonybrook.edu/) Elon Musk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk) John Cleese (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cleese) Grace Hopper (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper) Leonardo da Vinci quote: "It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sit back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things." Pablo Picasso (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso) Mount Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Center (https://www.msmc.com/comprehensive-cancer-center/) Phil Liebman on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/philiprliebman) Producer Ben Ford (https://www.producerbenford.com/) Beauty Pill (https://www.beautypill.com/)

"Lean into courage and see what happens." - Eila Park Robertson Former ABC News journalist, award‑winning filmmaker, and crisis communications strategist Eila Park Robertson joins Curated Questions to explore what happens “when listening saves democracy.” Drawing from a childhood navigating violence, immigration, and loneliness, Eila shares how asking genuine questions became her superpower for building trust with people who would never normally talk to the media. She explains why Western culture has forgotten how to listen, how that loss feeds polarization, and what it really takes to build bridges across political and ideological divides, starting with presence, curiosity, and courage. Eila and Ken dive into introverts as secret leaders of the room, why outrage‑only politics is burning us out, and how personal relationships can transform deeply held beliefs. They also explore climate storytelling, South Korea’s fight against authoritarianism, and practical ways to resist despair and rebuild community in an age of fractured attention. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) Keep questioning! Resources Mentioned ABC News Anecdotia Vogue Magazine Wedding Article Diane Sawyers Barbara Walters Muammar Gaddafi Mel Gibson Ziwe Fumudoh Dr. Jane Goodall International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Azzedine Downes, CEO IFAW United Nations Kelly Boesch Eila on Instagram (@eila2.2) Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"There's a difference between avoidance and stewardship of our own attention." - Ken Woodward When life grinds us down, something essential is revealed. In this solo episode, Ken Woodward explores why questions are the fundamental technology humans use to make sense of a world that has broken wide open. Drawing from a personal essay about growing up in rural Arizona and the disorienting experience of having a lifelong worldview bubble pop, Ken examines the overwhelming flood of inputs modern life delivers and why not every question in that flood is yours to carry. He contrasts two kinds of wisdom, the certainty-hardened and the question-exhausted, and makes the case that the most meaningful conversations happen with people who have crossed a difficult threshold and been changed by it. The grinding of life, like a mortar and pestle, doesn't destroy us. It reveals us. The fragrance was always there, waiting. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) Keep questioning!

"Every deflection is a small tax." - Ken Woodward In this solo episode of Curated Questions, Ken Woodward explores the hidden cost of defended answers and the quiet exhaustion that comes from maintaining stories that no longer fit. Drawing on conversations with Kevin Kelly and Phil Liebman, he examines the difference between exploitation and exploration, and why deep questioning is inherently inefficient. Through metaphors of strip mining, sinkholes, and live wires, Ken shows how cultures and individuals enforce authorized stopping points that keep conversations at the surface. A personal story about a pivotal career decision illustrates how a single honest answer can release stored energy and create unexpected freedom. The alchemy of questions is not about uncovering better information. It is about creating conditions where truth costs less than performance. When we stay past discomfort and refuse to stop too soon, something shifts. The energy returns. That return is liberation. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) Keep questioning! Resources Mentioned Kevin Kelly Wired Magazine Condé Nast Phil Liebman Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"The only cost of liberation is the decision to pay attention." - Ken Woodward In this solo episode of Curated Questions, host Ken Woodward reflects on wonder, not as a luxury, but as a necessary practice for resilience. Drawing from his experience aboard a U.S. Navy submarine in the gray winters of Connecticut, Ken recounts how weeks without color prepared him to recognize wonder the moment it returned. This memory becomes a lens for the present day, where constant crisis, scrolling, and AI-generated spectacle quietly dull our capacity to be moved. Ken weaves research, poetry, and personal practice to argue that real wonder has a cost: attention, specificity, and presence. From nature journaling prompts to insights from trauma research, he shows how precise noticing can interrupt numbness and restore resilience. Wonder, he suggests, doesn’t require mountaintops or submarines. Only the decision to stop, look again, and lower the threshold. The invitation is simple and demanding: reclaim reverence by paying attention to what’s already here. Wonder is not gone. It’s waiting to be noticed. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) Keep questioning! Resources Mentioned Groton, Connecticut Cole Arthur Riley Lynn Borton Choose To Be Curious - John Muir Laws episode John Muir Laws Deleting Instagram Angus Fletcher John O'Donohue Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections On Our Yearning To Belong by John O'Donohue Romanesco Broccoli This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

Episode Summary "They’re literally allowing their past to define them, not refine them. And refinement is an active process, and you have to be prepared to do the work if you’re gonna grow." - Dr. John A. King In this powerful and unflinching conversation, Ken Woodward is in conversation with Dr. John A. King, author, speaker, and PTSD recovery expert, whose life journey moves from profound trauma to purposeful advocacy. A survivor of childhood sexual abuse and trafficking, John transformed personal devastation into a mission to help others move from surviving to thriving through his foundation and mental wellness work. King reflects on how questions have guided his healing, challenging the tendency to live “from the outside in” and instead pursuing happiness through intentional inner work, and living "inside out." He shares the discipline behind lasting change, emphasizing the incremental progress of 1% shifts that compound over time, and the daily choice to let hardship refine rather than define us. Together, they explore resilience, identity, and the courage to rewrite one’s story. This episode is a candid reminder that recovery is not instantaneous but forged through persistence, self-honesty, and the relentless decision to keep moving forward. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) Keep questioning! Resources Mentioned Dr. John A. King's website Vilfredo Pareto Napoleonic War Civil War World War I World War II Five Whys Jesuit priest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5)  Los Alamos National Laboratories Till It's Done (pending release) by John King Stopping Traffic documentary Stopping Traffic Trailer Sisu (Finnish) Taken film John Wick Braveheart Gladiator 300 film Rats and Rain (book) by John King Sisu film Warumungu People The Phoenix Collective The Phoenix Collective Program Dr. John A. King on Instagram Dr. John A. King on LinkedIn Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"Sometimes my parents say ask three questions and then you can play." - Addy Graff In this delightful episode of Curated Questions, Ken Woodward sits down with eight-year-old explorer Addy Graff to discover how curiosity takes root early in life. A seasoned traveler who has visited roughly 40 countries and every neighborhood in Washington, DC, Addy shares how asking questions helps her learn about people, cultures, and new experiences. From sampling adventurous foods like snails to practicing French in local shops, she demonstrates a fearless approach to discovery. Addy reflects on lessons from school about thoughtful versus superficial questions and explains why the best ones invite stories rather than one-word answers. Encouraged by her parents to ask meaningful questions at the dinner table, she is already developing the habits of a lifelong learner. Whether researching travel for the book she is writing or choosing the most interesting path while wandering a new city, Addy reminds us that curiosity is less about age and more about posture. One that keeps the world expansive, welcoming, and full of possibility. Follow along on her adventures through her Dad's Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/austinkgraff/ This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) Keep questioning! Episode Notes 00:00 Introduction To Curated Questions 01:52 Meet Addy Graff: The Young Explorer 03:16 The Power of Asking Questions 05:13 Adventurous Travels and Tasting New Foods 08:44 Learning About Questions in School 11:37 Curiosity and Learning New Skills 13:52 Family Traditions and Encouraging Questions 16:17 Favorite Questions and Multilingual Curiosity 17:12 Discussing Language and Travel 17:51 Exploring Washington, DC 18:12 Neighborhoods and Landmarks 19:19 Wandering and Discovering 20:09 Culinary Adventures 23:11 Writing and Researching Travel 26:33 Travel Stories and Experiences 31:14 Reflections on Questions   Resources Mentioned Austin K Graff: Dad who chronicles Addy's adventures Austin K Graff on Instagram Ms. Watts Addy's Teacher S'mores N'more Santa Rosa Taqueria 50 Maps of the World Nutcracker Princess Jasmine outfit Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

Episode Summary "I don’t want hope as a primary strategy for living well." - Ken Woodward In this solo episode of Curated Questions, Ken Woodward explores hope not as a feeling or slogan, but as a muscle, something built, weakened, and strengthened through use. Prompted by Alex Honnold’s free-solo climb and his own season of uncertainty, Ken reflects on the collapse of trust in institutions and the fragility of inherited forms of hope. Drawing on psychological and neuroscientific research, he reframes hope as a cognitive skill set rooted in agency and pathways, the belief that we can act and imagine multiple routes forward, even without certainty. Ken examines how rumination, paralysis, and outsourced responsibility erode hope, and how well-chosen questions can interrupt despair and reengage possibility. Moving from individual to collective hope, he invites listeners to consider where their own “hope muscles” have atrophied and what small, concrete actions might rebuild them. This episode is not a lesson on hope, but a vulnerable, out-loud search for it, grounded in questions, courage, and shared responsibility. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) Keep questioning! Episode Notes 00:00 A Taste Of What Is To Come 02:02 The Story of Alex Honnold 02:45 Personal Reflections on Hope 03:49 Current State of the World 05:34 The Concept of Hope 08:41 The Neuroscience of Hope 12:03 Practical Questions for Hope 15:55 Collective Hope and Action 19:09  Poem: Alex Jeffrey Pretti, Murdered by I.C.E, January 24th, 2026 by Amanda Gorman 20:58 Closing Remarks Resources Mentioned Alex Honnold Tiapei 101 Tower Amanda Gorman Poem: Alex Jeffrey Pretti, Murdered by I.C.E, January 24th, 2026 by Amanda Gorman Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"You can only live with so much cognitive dissonance in your life." - Matthew Pridgen Matthew Pridgen joins Ken Woodward for a raw, wide-ranging conversation about how questions can crack open denial and move us toward truth, repentance, and reconciliation. Matthew shares his dramatic journey from addiction and a near-fatal suicide attempt to a decades-long pursuit of faith, justice, and historical honesty. His pivotal moment was when an eight-year-old girl asked, “Why did you take my church down?” after a tent revival in Charleston’s historically Black East Side, which became the question that launched his racial awakening. Together, they explore how American “mythology” hides the realities of slavery, Jim Crow, and modern dog whistles, and how the Black church has sustained a prophetic witness against oppression. The episode highlights the personal cost of cognitive dissonance, the freedom of living without lies, and a central challenge for today: are Christians willing to abandon Christian nationalism and follow Jesus’ actual teachings? Check out Matthew's documentary The Sins of Our Fathers: Race, Religion, and the Rise of Trump on Amazon Prime, and his new Sins of Our Fathers podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts. (https://www.amazon.com/Sins-our-Fathers-Religion-Trump/dp/B0G1XD7TQT) This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) Keep questioning! Episode Notes 00:00 Introduction to Curated Questions 02:05 Meet Matthew Pridgen: A Story of Redemption 03:38 Matthew's Tent Revival and Racial Awakening 05:02 Confronting Myths and Realities of American History 05:57 The Impact of Systemic Racism 07:19 The Power of Film in Social Change 08:41 Charleston's Unique Racial History 09:13 The Great Migration and Segregation 11:01 The Role of White Supremacy in American History 11:37 Theological Justifications for Racism 17:16 Matthew's Higher Call to Christians 21:37 Matthew's Personal Journey to Faith 25:06 Homeless Ministry and Community Engagement 27:12 Understanding Institutional Poverty 30:29 The Prophetic Witness of the Black Church 34:28 Cognitive Dissonance and Historical Awareness 37:20 The Need for National Reconciliation 42:28 The Uncomfortable Work of Facing Truth 48:56 The Role of Motivation in National Policy 50:23 Soft Power and Global Influence 50:55 The Motivation Behind Our Actions 52:25 Impact of USAID and Trump's Policies 53:13 The Harm of White Supremacy 53:46 Christianity and Political Disillusionment 54:58 The Hypocrisy in Evangelical Christianity 56:25 The Existential Crisis of Faith 57:07 False Prophets and Historical Atrocities 58:12 Embracing the Black Church Tradition 59:18 The Prophetic Witness of Black Women 01:02:12 The Legacy of Slavery and Black Women's Burden 01:04:21 The George Floyd Protests and Aftermath 01:05:50 The Need for National Conversation on Race 01:08:38 The Role of Individual Awakening 01:09:32 The Importance of Historical Awareness 01:12:56 Taking Action and Refusing to Be Complicit 01:16:37 The Influence of Barbara 01:22:34 The Freedom of Honesty and Repentance 01:28:25 Increased Sensitivity of Raised Defenses 01:31:28 The Challenge of National Pride 01:32:32 The Role of Humility in Overcoming Bias 01:33:41 Final Thoughts and Call to Action Resources Mentioned Sins of Our Fathers From Folly by Matthew Pridgen America Street by Matthew Pridgen South of Broad neighborhood in Charleston, South Carolina Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove George Floyd Emancipation Reconstruction Jim Crow Laws Civil Rights Era Tower of Babel Day of Pentecost Martin Luther King, Jr. Tulsa Race Massacre Donald Trump DEI CRT Antifa The Great Party Switch Southern Strategy Dr. Bernard Powers College of Charleston Center for the Study of Slavery at the College of Charleston Jemar Tisby Duke University Rev. Dr. Dallas Wilson, Jr. Emancipation Proclamation Reverent William Barber II Poor People's Campaign The Naked Truth Art Project by Ephraim Urevbu The Indigenous People's History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz Sister Citizen by Melissa Harris-Perry Ann Caldwell Gospel singer The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone Caste by Isabel Wilkerson The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby (https://jemartisby.com/the-color-of-compromise/) How to Fight Racism by Jemar Tisby Resmaa Menakem The New Deal Joe Biden Jeffrey Epstein Files Instagram Facebook TikTok YouTube The Sins of Our Fathers on Amazon Prime Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"Questions are not neutral; they're interventions." - Ken Woodward What actually happens inside us when a question is asked? In this solo episode of Curated Questions, Ken Woodward explores the neurological, emotional, and psychological impact of being asked a question. Moving beyond techniques or tactics, Ken examines how questions hijack attention, trigger chemical responses in the brain, open unresolved mental loops, and sometimes activate fear or defensiveness. Drawing from neuroscience and a powerful encounter during his Washington, D.C. walking project, he reflects on a question that has remained open for years: What real difference are you making? This episode reveals why some questions feel like relief before they’re answered, why others linger long after they’re asked, and how certain questions don’t just reveal who we are, but actively shape who we become. Questions, Ken argues, are not neutral requests for information. They are interventions. And understanding their power changes how we ask, how we answer, and how we live with them. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to check out the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) Keep questioning! Episode Notes 00:00 Introduction: The Power of Smell and Memory 01:09 Welcome to Curated Questions 02:21 Part One: The Hijack 04:07 Questions in Everyday Life 06:39 Part Two: The Chemical Cascade 11:13 Part Three: The Open Loop 14:57 Part Four: The Threat Response 17:15 Part Five: The Self In Question 18:52 Part Six: Putting It Together 20:43 Conclusion Resources Mentioned Brain Rules: We Are Not Wired For True Multitasking by John Medina Neuromodulatory Systems UC Davis Bluma Zeigarnik Washington Post Article about Ken's walk through Washington D.C. by Teresa Vargas Default Mode Network Rainer Maria Rilke Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"Literally everything in life is hard. The question is, what cost are you willing to pay? And you pay that willingly and happily because you value it." - Mitchell Osmond In this episode of Curated Questions, Ken Woodward sits down with Mitchell Osmond, founder of Dad Nation Co., and host of the Dad Nation Podcast (Top 5% globally), to explore a hard but liberating truth: everything in life is difficult; the question is which difficulty we choose. Mitchell shares the moment a single question at a funeral, “Are you living a life worthy of imitation?” forced him to confront his health, marriage, finances, and legacy. From that reckoning emerged a framework for growth rooted in discomfort, integrity, and honest self-inquiry. Together, Ken and Mitchell examine why confidence is built through keeping promises, how avoiding hard questions quietly shapes our futures, and why legacy is forged at home as much as at work. The conversation challenges the myth of ease, reframes struggle as a signal of alignment, and invites listeners to define success on their own terms. Ultimately, this episode is a call to stop outsourcing meaning, and to choose the hard that leads to a life worth living. Mitchell is launching a new group coaching program, the High Performance Husband Accelerator! All the details can be found at https://www.dadnationco.com/accelerator Mitchell is offering The Connection Code as a gift. 50 questions to spark the fun and get the fire back is available at https://www.dadnationco.com/code  Sign up for the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter at https://curatedquestions.substack.com/ This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Keep questioning! Resources Mentioned Dad Nation Co website The Dad Nation Podcast Dad Nation Co Instagram Mitchell Osmond on LinkedIn Josh Waitzkin Tim Ferriss Albert Einstein Seth Godin Virginia Satir The Gap in the Gain by Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan Ed Mylett John Gray author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus The High Performance Husband Raymond Coates Spark Starter Kit Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"What are the questions you will be carrying into the year, such that it will be a celebration of your becoming?" - Ken Woodward This year-end Curated Questions episode is a reflective curation of the questions that shaped several conversations throughout 2025. Rather than offering a rapid recap of every episode, Ken highlights a handful of moments that reveal how intentional questioning can clarify purpose, interrupt unhelpful patterns, and guide meaningful becoming. Across stories from entrepreneurs, scientists, artists, and personal reflection, the episode explores questions that ask us to define the change we seek to make, consider who we are becoming, and choose where to place our attention. Along the way, listeners are reminded that good questions often emerge only after many imperfect ones, that perspective shapes dignity and connection, and that small mental reframes can act as powerful resets. As the year closes, the episode becomes an invitation: to name the questions that mattered most in 2025, to carry one forward with intention into 2026, and to trust that a better world is built by those willing to keep questioning. Sign up for the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter at https://curatedquestions.substack.com/ This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Ensure to subscribe to the Curated Questions Dispatch weekly newsletter on Substack. Keep questioning! Episode Notes 00:00 Highlight 01:56 Introduction and Welcome 02:51 Overview of 2025 Episodes 04:09 Curated Questions Dispatch Newsletter 05:10 Highlighting Seth Godin's Insights 07:31 A Helpful Practice 08:46 Lisa Wimberger on Neurosculpting 09:25 Tim Molnar's Strategic Dating Guide 10:14 Kevin Kelly on Questioning and AI 11:30 Robert Sturman's Unique Perspective 12:23 Conclusion and Call to Action Resources Mentioned Flightcast Steven Bartlett, host of Diary of a CEO Curated Questions Dispatch on Substack Seth Godin Ask the Dust by John Fante Hannah Fry Lisa Wimberger Neurosculpting Tim Molnar Date Smarter: A Strategic Guide for Navigating Modern Romance by Tim Molnar Kevin Kelly Robert Sturman San Quentin Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"Direction often emerges not from knowing what you want, but from finally admitting what you don’t." - Ken Woodward The Inquisitive Almanack: 2026 Edition closes the year with something Curated Questions has never quite done before—an affectionate, slightly irreverent, and deeply thoughtful almanack for the inner life. Inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack, this episode blends dry wit, invented bureaucracy, and hard-won wisdom to offer forecasts not for the weather, but for the heart, mind, and questions we carry. You’ll hear interior weather reports, proverbs for the asking class, arbitrary rules of inquiry, lunar phases of curiosity, and predictions for the questions most likely to surface in 2026—across leadership, relationships, parenting, teams, and personal life. Released intentionally as the final episode of the year, this Almanack isn’t a recap or a resolution guide. It’s a pause. A breath. A lighter place to rest before the calendar turns and begins asking new things of us. Come curious. Leave rested. And carry one good question forward. Be sure to check out the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (LINK) This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Keep questioning! Resources Mentioned Poor Richard's Almanack Benjamin Franklin Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"Not being a hundred percent sure all the time is a weird strength." - Haru Yamada In this episode of Curated Questions, Ken Woodward is in conversation with Dr. Haru Yamada, a sociolinguist, intercultural communication scholar, and author of Kiku: The Japanese Art of Good Listening, to explore what it really means to listen. Haru traces her early understanding of questions back to age four, when she moved from Tokyo to New York and had to use questions as a tool for language, belonging, and survival. Together, they unpack how culture shapes communication: English often rewards “flashlight” questioning, the precise, content-driven clarity, while Japanese culture tends to favor a “lantern” approach that illuminates context, relationship, and what isn’t said. Haru also shares the harrowing accident that reshaped her understanding of listening as a health practice, linking felt-heard experiences to relational, mental, and even physical well-being. In a noisy, multitasking world, this conversation reframes listening as an active, life-giving skill, and a compass for navigating each other with empathy. Be sure to check out the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Keep questioning! Episode Notes 00:00 Introduction: Embracing Uncertainty 01:57 Introducing Dr. Haru Yamada 02:23 The Art of Listening: Kiku 03:12 A Life-Altering Accident 03:37 Welcoming Dr. Yamada 04:02 Early Experiences with Questions 04:57 Navigating Cultural Differences 07:28 The Journey of a Third Culture Kid 08:19 Academic Pursuits in Linguistics 10:32 The Strength in Uncertainty 16:04 Questioning Anti-Fragility As A Goal 23:02 Flashlight vs. Lantern: Different Approaches to Questions 26:57 Cultural Context in Business Meetings 28:16 Interpersonal Communication Challenges 32:12 The Importance of Listening 39:51 Personal Anecdotes and Reflections 44:11 The Healing Power of Being Heard 47:42 Reflecting on Past Medical Experiences 48:16 The Evolution of Listening Post-COVID 49:41 Remote Work and Multitasking 52:24 The Impact of Isolation on Communication 54:02 Curated Interactions in the Digital Age 55:34 The Shift in Media Consumption 57:48 The Importance of Visual and Auditory Listening 59:04 Personal Experiences with Hearing Loss 01:00:58 Advancements in Hearing Aid Technology 01:03:20 The Value of Ambiguous Questions 01:04:23 The Fear of Uncertainty in Listening 01:05:05 The Role of Multitasking in Communication 01:07:24 Learning from Students' Unique Needs 01:11:29 The Changing Nature of Academic Inquiry 01:19:23 Better Understanding The Lantern View 01:22:35 Cultural Differences in Language Learning 01:24:52 The Complexity of Bilingualism 01:26:48 The Challenges of Cross-Cultural Communication 01:31:07 Final Reflections and Takeaways Resources Mentioned KIKU: The Japanese Art of Good Listening by Dr. Haru Yamada Lynn Borton at Choose To Be Curious Jeff Wetzler Austin K Graff Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Power of Introverts TED Talk by Susan Cain Stanford Interpersonal Dynamics Class Dr. Haru Yamada on LinkedIn Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

Episode Summary "If all you do is pay attention to what everyone else is paying attention to, then  by definition you're not likely to innovate anything or create anything very original or different or surprising." - Rob Walker Writer and cultural observer Rob Walker joins Ken to explore how questions and noticing reshape the way we move through the world. Rob traces his origin story back to discovering journalism at 18, a framework that gave a shy, introverted kid permission to ask questions on behalf of others. They dig into his book and newsletter The Art of Noticing, talking about everyday noticing assignments, why “what am I missing?” is a powerful self-question, and how small acts of attention can mark time and make life more memorable. Rob shares the story behind the Significant Objects project and why story, and not a price tag, creates real value in the objects we keep. From New Orleans as a “conversational city” to his teaching on point of view and manifestos, Rob reflects on questions as both agency and responsibility, in democracies, organizations, and personal life. Be sure to subscribe to Rob's Substack The Art of Noticing newsletter at https://robwalker.substack.com/ Be sure to check out the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Keep questioning! Episode Notes 00:00 Introduction to Overlooked Ideas 01:56 Introducing Rob Walker 03:19 Rob Walker's Early Life and Career 04:28 Discovering Journalism and the Power of Questions 05:54 Embracing Curiosity and Askew Perspectives 08:57 The Influence of Laurie Anderson 13:30 Living in New Orleans 14:56 The Unique Culture of New Orleans 21:21 The Art of Noticing 22:32 Personal Experiences with Noticing 27:50 The Impact of Noticing on Daily Life 33:21 Noticing and Questions 40:56 The Power of Asking Questions 42:39 Questions and Agency 44:26 The Importance of Questions in Organizations 45:14 Inspirations and Heroes in Questioning 46:11 The Art of Asking Questions 46:37 Early Lessons in Journalism 47:42 Challenges of Interviewing Law Firms 48:12 Curiosity-Driven Interviews 48:35 The Sharpie Story 50:15 Preparing for Interviews 50:51 The Flow of Conversation 52:58 Finding Unique Angles in Business Stories 55:09 The Power of Longevity and Community 56:39 Mindfulness and Creativity 59:21 Significant Objects Project 01:01:04 The Value of Story in Objects 01:06:23 The Gift of a Questioning Mindset 01:11:59 Teaching and Point of View 01:12:51 The Role of Questions in Design 01:14:20 Student Challenges with Questions 01:18:57 Personal Reflections on Questions 01:19:25 End of Year Reflections 01:22:48 Final Takeaways and Reflections Resources Mentioned Consumed column in the New York Times Magazine The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker (book) Buying It by Rob Walker (book) Significant Objects Project Lynn Borton of Choose to Be Curious Laurie Anderson United States Live (album) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Live) Pacifica radio station (Houston) Brooklyn Academy of Music / BAM Journey (band) Foreigner (band) University of Texas Hand Grenade (cocktail) Anne Rice Dave Isay Sound Portraits New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCA) The Art of Noticing (newsletter) The American Lawyer (publication) Am Law 100 Martindale-Hubbell (legal directory) Karen Dillon Sharpie Fast Company Starbucks Cracker Barrel Logo Controversy Austin Kleon Waking Up Meditation App Joshua Glenn Meg Cabot William Gibson Project Object Lost Objects Lost Objects Book by Rob Walker Ignorance by Stuart Firestein (book) Inconspicuous Consumption newsletter by Paul Lucas Jerry Colonna David Whyte School of Visual Arts in New York Point of View Class at SVA Products of Design Rob Walker Substack robwalker.net Hypothetical Development Organization Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"We vote with our labor for the world we want to create. If you don't reflect on what you're doing, how do you know you're casting the right vote?" - Radhika Dutt In this episode of Curated Questions, host Ken Woodward engages entrepreneur and author Radhika Dutt in a profound exploration of how questions can transform organizations from goal-driven to puzzle-solving entities. Radhika is the author of "Radical Product Thinking" and shares her journey from MIT to becoming a serial entrepreneur to developing the puzzle-based leadership OHLA framework (Objectives, Hypotheses, Learnings, Adaptations). The conversation reveals how traditional goal-setting, rooted in 1940s assembly-line thinking, fails in today's complex environment, where creative problem-solving matters more than repetitive execution. Radhika demonstrates through a live experiment how "puzzles" energize while "goals" burden, explaining that puzzles tap into internal motivation rather than external pressure. She emphasizes the critical importance of reflection, a practice she credits with enabling better decision-making both personally and professionally. Drawing from her nine languages and global experience, including living in post-apartheid South Africa, Radhika offers insights on creating psychological safety for questions across cultures. The episode culminates with practical guidance on implementing puzzle-based thinking in organizations, showing how asking better questions leads to ownership, engagement, and transformative results. Be sure to check out the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Keep questioning! Resources Mentioned Radical Product Thinking: The New Mindset for Innovating Smarter by Radhika Dutt Lobby Seven MIT Avid Technology Monetary Authority of Singapore ChatGPT Sam Altman Gates Foundation What has the Gates Foundation done for Global Health? Muhammad Yunus Microloans Esther Duflo Abhijit Banerjee Frank Blake Adobe Apple Only The Paranoid Survive David Eagleman  Management by Objectives detailed in The Practice of Management by Peter Drucker General Motors Lean Startup Adidas Bryn Mawr College Monument Lab Albert Einstein Drama of the Gifted Child by Alice Miller OHLA Framework Toolkit (Objectives, Hypotheses, Learnings, Adaptations) Radhika Dutt on LinkedIn RadicalProduct.com Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"The Insight Pause is sitting in the rubble of your shattered worldview before clearing a single stone." - Ken Woodward In this solo episode, Ken Woodward introduces The Insight Pause—a five-step framework for navigating the moments that crack open our worldview. Through his own story of confronting the hidden history behind the Indigenous names and artifacts that shaped his childhood landscape, Ken explores how insights arrive fully formed, unsettle our identities, and demand more than quick fixes or defensive reactions. He walks listeners through the foundational skills that prepare us for these moments, the instant of recognition, the sacred pause that follows, and the slow work of integrating unsettling truths into a new, liberated worldview. Whether you're rethinking long-held beliefs, noticing contradictions you can’t ignore, or sensing that something in your life no longer fits, this episode offers a practical and compassionate guide for holding discomfort without collapsing into denial or overreaction. Discover how the Insight Pause can transform the questions you carry—and the person you’re becoming. Be sure to check out the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Keep questioning! Episode Notes 00:00 Introduction and Welcome 01:55 Personal Story: Early Realizations 02:36 The Cracks in the Story 02:51 Framework Introduction 03:37 Manifest Destiny and Indigenous Names 04:29 A Shattered Worldview 05:37 The Moment of Insight 05:56 Step One: Foundation 07:38 Step Two: Insight 08:47 Step Three: Insight Pause 10:23 Step Four: Integration 12:04 Step Five: Liberation 13:28 Insight Pause Deep Dive 16:14 Practical Applications 17:11 Creating Your Own Pause Practice 19:36 Final Thoughts and Call to Action Resources Mentioned Yavapai County (https://www.yavapaiaz.gov/Home) Hopi (https://www.hopi-nsn.gov/) An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (https://a.co/d/8xO1EDb) Manifest Destiny (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_destiny) Prescott, Arizona (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prescott,_Arizona) Quinnipiac River (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinnipiac_River) Niantic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niantic_people) Montauk Point (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk_Point_Light) Mashantucket Pequot (https://www.mptn-nsn.gov/) Mohegan (https://www.mohegan.nsn.us/) Bison herds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_bison) American exceptionalism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism) Founding Fathers of the United States (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founding_Fathers_of_the_United_States) Piscataway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piscataway_people) Narragansett (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narragansett_people) Producer Ben Ford (https://www.producerbenford.com/) Beauty Pill (https://www.beautypill.com/) Questions Asked What question are you avoiding that would change everything? What questions float at the edge of your consciousness? What contradictions do you live with daily? Even if 50% of the book was false, what do I do with the 50% that's true? What do I do with the 50% that's true? What truths are hiding in plain sight in your life? Why do our best people keep leaving? Why do I keep having the same fight? Why does this success feel empty? Why does this certainty require so much defending? What am I working hard not to see? Where do you feel the truth in your body? What truths are hiding in plain sight in your life? What feedback have you been deflecting? What patterns have you been rationalizing? What questions are you unwilling to ask? What costs are you refusing to calculate? ( What names are you driving past? What pottery shards are you collecting without asking whose hands shaped them? What “half-truth” would change everything if you faced the true half? What seedling of truth needs protection in your sacred uncertainty?

"I'm gonna make an appointment with my curiosity." - Frank Sesno Emmy award-winning journalist Frank Sesno shares how curiosity and strategic questioning shaped his four-decade career covering presidents and world leaders as CNN's Washington Bureau Chief and White House correspondent. From a fourth-grade question about astronauts to interviewing five U.S. presidents, Frank reveals the power of deliberate curiosity and active listening. Frank breaks down his approach to preparing for high-stakes interviews, explaining how he blocks conversations into thematic acts while remaining flexible. He introduces the "echo question" technique, which is simply repeating a person's emotionally charged word back to them, that transforms surface answers into more profound truths. Frank emphasizes that the best questioners are the best listeners, focusing on what people say and what they don't say. In "Ask More: The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change," Frank discusses why bridge-building questions are critical in our polarized moment. He explores how AI makes human curiosity more valuable and shares his practice of "making an appointment with curiosity" to create time to deliberately formulate meaningful questions. Be sure to check out the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Keep questioning! Episode Notes 00:00 Introduction and Welcome 02:04 Meet Frank Sesno: A Legendary Journalist 03:05 Early Encounters with the Power of Questions 05:01 Curiosity Encouraged: School Days 05:54 The Art of Interviewing: Following Curiosity 08:37 Touchstone Moments in Journalism 09:35 Holding Power to Account 10:42 The Journey to Asking Tough Questions 12:48 Understanding Human Stories 18:25 Complexity of Human Experience 22:38 Listening: The Key to Great Questions 24:37 Echo Questions: A Powerful Technique 27:29 Preparing for Interviews: A Structured Approach 29:40 Structuring Interview Questions 30:27 The Importance of Flexibility in Interviews 31:16 The Power of Walking and Reflecting 32:01 Lessons from the Galapagos 34:13 Traveling with Curiosity 36:38 Fostering Curiosity in Students 40:46 Question Categories That Are Needed Today 47:04 The Role of AI in Questioning 50:39 The Human Touch in Questioning 52:21 Building Rapport with Interviewees 53:26 The Right Now Question 53:54 Finding Hope in Challenging Times 57:26 Connecting with Frank Sesno 58:51 Summary and Takeaways Resources Mentioned Ask More: The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change by Frank Sesno The Sesno Series George Washington University Senator Mark Warner George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs Washington Post Shohei Otani Yoshinobu Yamamoto Los Angeles Dodgers Nancy Kanwisher Cal Fussman Plant Forward Storyfest Competition Galapagos Islands Lindblad Expeditions 1882 Morgan Silver Dollar Nancy Pelosi Frank Sesno on LinkedIn Frank Sesno website Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"When you have a trusting environment, it is exactly to hold each other accountable." - Jaimie Reese What does it take to build trust in one of the world’s largest bureaucracies? Former U.S. Navy Senior Executive (SES) Jaimie Reese joins Ken Woodward to explore how genuine curiosity and courageous questioning can reshape systems, teams, and lives. From the aftermath of 9/11 to boardrooms and the Pentagon, Reese shares hard-won lessons on leadership, timing, and the art of listening when stakes are high. Through stories that move from crisis to calm, she unpacks why trust isn’t granted by authority but earned through everyday inquiry—how slowing down, asking better questions, and truly hearing the answers can transform any organization. Jaimie traces the invisible threads between humility, communication, and change, revealing what happens when leaders replace certainty with curiosity. This episode challenges every listener to reimagine leadership as an ongoing dialogue. Because, as Jaimie reminds us, “Leadership is a conversation you have with the future—one question at a time.” This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Keep questioning! Episode Notes 00:00 Building Trust and Accountability 01:07 Introduction to Curated Questions 01:51 Meet Jamie Reese 03:05 Jamie's Early Career and Learning the Power of Questions 05:36 The Importance of Prioritizing Questions 06:37 Building Relationships Through Questions 10:17 Navigating Requirements and Funding in the DOD 14:31 Engaging Stakeholders 22:16 The Role of Diverse Voices in Decision Making 28:29 Creating a Safe Space for Questions 36:44 The Importance of Time in Asking Questions 37:36 Reflections on Time Management 39:21 The Importance of Time Management 40:03 AI and the Art of Asking Questions 40:52 Balancing Speed and Quality 43:07 The Cost, Schedule, Performance Triangle 43:26 Applying Business Principles to Human Capital 45:38 Managing a Large Workforce 46:08 Strategic Workforce Development 52:38 Data-Driven Decision Making 55:10 The Role of Questions in Leadership 59:11 Navigating Organizational Change 01:02:42 Finding The Skeletons in The Closets 01:11:14 Building Trust and Accountability 01:12:50 The Value of Trust in the Workplace 01:14:09 Balancing Organizational Trust and Personal Sacrifice 01:15:04 The Decision to Leave the Federal Workforce 01:15:56 The Importance of Trust in Relationships 01:17:11 Facing Unhappiness and Making Changes 01:17:59 Reflecting on Career and Organizational Loyalty 01:19:49 The 9/11 Experience: A Day of Chaos and Leadership 01:21:13 Evacuation and Immediate Aftermath 01:23:07 Returning to Work Post-9/11 01:24:15 Leadership Lessons from Crisis 01:30:44 Navigating Healthcare for a Loved One 01:35:20 The Importance of Being Present in Healthcare 01:38:31 Final Thoughts and Ways to Connect Resources Mentioned The Pentagon DASN OSD NAVSEA (Naval Sea Systems Command) Kevin Kelly – Wired magazine founder, author of The Inevitable Ferris Bueller’s Day Off ReeseReimagined.com Jaimie Reese on LinkedIn Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

"The closer you become with these people while you're wearing that mask, the more distant you actually feel from the people around you." - Garrett Wood In this episode of Curated Questions, host Ken Woodward engages in a deep conversation with Garrett Wood, a national board-certified health and wellness coach and certified clinical hypnotherapist. Garrett shares his insights on the hidden tolls of high achievement, addressing issues such as perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and burnout. He explores the power of questions and how they can transform our understanding of identity, worth, and achievement. The discussion dives into the paradox of wearing masks to gain social acceptance, the first signs of burnout manifesting as cynicism, and the importance of creating authentic connections. Garrett also discusses practical strategies, such as non-sleep deep rest, to enhance performance and creativity, as well as the role of self-compassion in maintaining mental health. This episode offers valuable perspectives on how to navigate and make sense of the world through the power of questioning. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Keep questioning! Episode Notes 00:00 The Mask of Perfectionism 01:11 Welcome to Curated Questions 01:55 Meet Garrett Wood 02:57 Garrett's Early Experiences with Questions 05:14 The Power and Danger of Questions 06:02 Socratic Method and Questioning Authority 08:50 Curiosity and Childhood 12:32 The Role of Questions in Executive Coaching 15:13 Creating a Safe Space for Growth 20:22 Helping Clients Trust The Process 32:02 The Therapeutic Relationship 34:22 Understanding Pain and Healing 38:17 Non-Sleep Deep Rest 46:55 The Mundane Tasks and Mind Wandering 47:39 Non-Sleep Deep Rest Explained 48:29 The Power of Journaling 51:25 Practical Applications of Non-Sleep Deep Rest 54:20 Recognizing and Addressing Burnout 56:08 The Importance of Biofeedback 56:58 Understanding and Identifying Cynicism 01:01:43 The Concept of Masking 01:06:36 Living Authentically 01:11:30 The Journey of Self-Discovery 01:13:56 The Role of Questions in Personal Growth 01:20:48 Exploring Identity and Attachment 01:29:31 Final Thoughts and Takeaways Resources Mentioned Gnosis Therapy Socrates Douglas Adams Immanuel Kant Amy Radin Explain Pain Theory by David Butler and Lorimer Moseley Nociception Thomas Edison Albert Einstein Carl Jung Five Levels of Attachment by Don Miguel Ruiz Jr. Garrett Wood on LinkedIn at Gnosis Therapy Gnosis Therapy on Instagram Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill

Episode Notes00:00 The Possibility Of Your Avoided Question01:21 Welcome to Curated Questions01:59 Tangled Wings' Impact04:31 The Question That Changes Questions07:43 When Your Brain Says "Nope" (A Friendly Science Tour)12:06 The Locked Door Model (Your Map to the Question)15:11 A Personal Interlude (When I Found My Door)16:10 From Boardroom to Living Room (How This Scales)19:45 When Giants Finally Ask (The Storm Before the Breakthrough)26:05 Integration Accelerators (Making It Stick)27:07 Why This Matters Now (The Gentle Urgency)28:22 Three Companion Questions (For Your Toolkit)29:32 Your Next 48 Hours32:01 Takeaways - Choose Your Own Adventure Resources MentionedSumner CrenshawJerry ColonnaDavid EaglemanLeonard MlodinowAntonio DamasioLeon FestingerSatya NadellaMary OliverProducer Ben FordBeauty Pill Questions AskedWhat question are you avoiding that would change everything?What topic made you slightly tense when I said “that decision you keep postponing”?Where does it hurt?What are you willing to give up that you love in order to change those conditions?How has it benefited you to maintain these conditions you say you don’t want?What am I avoiding right now, this week?What topic, if I brought it up right now, would make you want to skip ahead in this podcast?When will it be?How much is enough?What’s the cost of not asking?Is it above your integrity grade?What would our best competitor assume we’re too afraid to do?If my kid was watching me handle this, what would I want them to learn?Where are we optimizing for looking good instead of being good?What would be different if…?What does it look like to be a modern-day Freedom Rider?How does my embrace of the American myth change upon the discovery of the broken treaties and massacres enacted on Indigenous people?How do I hold dear to a faith when the church protected abusers and the powerful while endorsing slavery?Why is there no national memorial celebrating the resilience of those enslaved and holding to account those who perpetrated the evil in our American history?What if people don’t want to drive to a store?What if they didn’t have to?What if film is temporary?What if photos are social?What behavior does our incentive system actually reward?Are we helping our customers succeed, or just protecting Windows?What are we really afraid will happen if we plan for our own absence?What am I pretending not to know about what my partner needs?What question would my teenager ask if they felt truly safe?What story do I tell about why I can’t change this?What would I do if I knew I was already enough?What if the future isn’t about PCs?Are we a PC chip company, or are we a chip company that happens to make PC processors?What question am I avoiding?Are you? Or are you avoiding something more specific that might actually require change next Monday?What elephant do you see in my room that I keep walking around?Why do we keep this meeting?Why does the team need to be aligned?Why are we siloed?How would we design collaboration into our resource model?If we had zero history, zero sunk cost, and zero politics, what would we do?What would someone who loves our mission but sees our flaws say we’re avoiding?What question are we avoiding?What would change if we asked it?What is the smallest next step?Should I change jobs?Am I becoming who I want to be?Who do I want to be when I’m no longer afraid?Where have we stopped questioning?What are we pretending not to know?What would be different in 90 days if we faced this?What question am I avoiding this week that would change my next 90 days?What question am I avoiding today?What question do you think I’m avoiding?What question are we all thinking but no one’s saying?What assumption haven’t we tested since we wrote this?Where do our stated values and daily behaviors most diverge?What are we not discussing that our successors will wish we had?What would our most frustrated customer say we’re avoiding?What would we try if we knew we could iterate our way to success?

"The most fundamental relationship in any change process is the one that you have with yourself. It's the questions that you ask yourself first and foremost that are the game changers." - Jill Reilly In this episode of Curated Questions, host Ken Woodward is in conversation with global citizen and author Jill Reilly to explore the power of questioning in navigating life’s complexities. Jill shares her journey from the Midwest to South Africa, Zimbabwe, and beyond, reflecting on her experiences as an aid worker and the lessons that shaped her understanding of change and personal agency. They discuss the importance of self-permission, processing grief, and the need to adapt amidst societal and technological upheaval. With insights from her new book The Ten Permissions: Redefining the Rules of Adulting in the 21st Century, Jill emphasizes the transformative potential of asking the right questions to unlock personal growth and resilience. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Keep questioning! Episode Notes00:00 Introduction: The Power of Self-Questioning00:49 Milestone Celebration: 100,000 Downloads03:13 Introduction to Jill Reilly05:23 Jill's Journey to South Africa07:37 Choosing a Different Path09:30 The Concept of Permission13:39 Exploring New Paths18:23 Jill's Work in Zimbabwe21:44 Engaging with Questions29:05 Political Uncertainty and Fear31:18 Grieving the Old Stories32:05 Reimagining Our Future35:36 Challenging Fixed Mental Models37:16 Questioning Traditions and Conventions38:54 Intentional Conversations Around Adaptation40:07 The End of Predictable Progress41:40 Exploring Personal Undoing43:18 The White Savior Complex45:49 The Importance of Self-Permission47:04 Engaging with Yourself for Change49:11 Navigating AI and Rapid Changes55:56 No Need To Blow Up Your Life59:09 The Value of Leisure Time01:02:31 Professional Adaptation and Evolution01:08:19 Right Now Question01:12:27 Final Reflections and Takeaways Resources MentionedShame: Confessions of an Aid Worker in Africa by Jill ReillyVain Aid TED Talk by Jill ReillyThe 10 Permissions: Redefining The Rules of Adulting in The 21st Century by Jill ReillyHughes Network SystemsRobert MugabeTen Permissions websiteJill Reilly on LinkedInJill Reilly email: [email protected] Ben FordBeauty Pill Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?How is it that you chose to pursue going to South Africa?Were we allowed to question it?Were we allowed to create alternatives to it?What else did you do?What are the things that you could do?Do we even feel allowed to have those conversations?Am I defaulting to just take the next safest step, or am I allowing him and myself to consider that?Isn't it a good opportunity to begin to explore a variety of options?Are we preparing them for this evolving reality, or are we continuing to default to what worked in our day or what we've always done?How did things go when you got to South Africa?Who am I? How am I introducing myself? What am I about?What do you think were some of the modality, spirit, and heart posture as you use questions to engage this new world for you?Can you contract aids from a public toilet seat?What are good questions to use when wrestling with political uncertainty, upheaval, and the like?Am I gonna be the one to try and fill the void that's being created right now with something new, something better, or is our only option to try and patch together what once was and keep hobbling along?Why haven't we done any more amendments? Why haven't we changed things?How far can we go? What are we allowed to do?Do we need to make changes?Why would we choose the old version?Isn't there a better way? Isn't there more? Isn't there different? Isn't there now?Do I feel allowed to do the thing that I think I should or they say I should? Or does fear, intervene in my own sense of permission? Are there external authorities whose power over me is so great that I'm not willing to take a risk? or am I the thing that's in the way of me actually taking a risk to do something different?What are the questions that you're asking?How are you poking into your own assumptions?How are you testing those? What questions are you intentionally using? And what is your practice for going after that?And are you gonna be ready for that or are you gonna be blindsided?Am I allowed? What's desirable? What's allowable?What do you wanna do with it? What does it look like for you? How is it a vehicle for you to live and experience in ways that maybe you haven't fully lent into yet?What is your Right Now Question?How can, and how will my book and these permissions support people to navigate this age of AI?What's possible in this time? What's allowable? We allow ourselves to imagine showing up to this moment differently, and what might that look like?What situation in your life right now feels unfamiliar or uncomfortable where you could experiment with leading with questions instead of assumptions?How might genuine curiosity change those interactions?Where in your life are you waiting for approval when what you actually need is to give yourself permission?What would change if you separated these two concepts this week?How might you make space to process loss and grief that continue to weigh you down?Can you identify three "shoulds" that are currently driving your decisions?What would happen if you spent 10 minutes each day this week asking yourself what YOU actually want, without editing or judging the answers?

"Am I my brother's keeper? Is answered in the daily work of showing up, being challenged, getting it wrong, being corrected, and showing up again." - Ken Woodward In this solo episode, Ken Woodward explores one of humanity's oldest and most challenging questions: "Am I my brother's keeper?" Born from Cain's evasion after murdering Abel, this question continues to shape how we answer fundamental issues about immigration, homelessness, healthcare, and who deserves our care.Drawing from his 101-week walk through every street and alley in Washington, DC, Ken reflects on how he spent 50 years answering "no" to this question while convincing himself he was answering "yes." He shares powerful conversations with Raymond Coates about the Sugar House in Charleston, encounters with a woman who demanded accountability, and the devastating costs of both saying yes and saying no.This episode challenges listeners to examine their own complicity, confront inherited assumptions, and honestly assess who they've decided doesn't count as "brother." Ken offers four concrete takeaways to help transform this ancient question from theological abstraction into daily practice.This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Keep questioning! Episode Notes00:00 The Work of a Brother's Keeper01:12 Welcome to Curated Questions01:50 Am I My Brother's Keeper02:36 The Origin: Cain's Evasion04:44 The Question I Avoided Asking09:09 The Question I Lived11:07 Who Counts As Brother?14:21 What This Question Reveals15:45 The Cost of Yes!19:51 The Cost of No23:50 the Present Moment27:22 The Military Exception28:42 Repentance & Reparation32:35 The Vulnerability of Yes34:00 The Question For You36:58 The Invitation38:41 Takeaway43:27 Final Closing Resources MentionedCain & AbelBook of GenesisJames BaldwinLies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. LoewenCaste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel WilkersonGeorge FloydBreonna TaylorAhmaud ArberyThe TorahThe parable of the Good SamaritanJesusJesus and the Disinherited by Howard ThurmanRaymond CoatesLorton PrisonSugar House, Charleston, South CarolinaTraining Day with Denzel WashingtonBuddy HarrisonMalcolm XJerry ColonnaAn Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-OrtizSouthern StrategyRedliningNegro BibleCivil Rights ActCivil Liberties Act of 1988Emmett TillJerry JonesMary OliverProducer Ben FordBeauty Pill Questions AskedAm I my brother's keeper?Where is your brother Abel?Who have I decided doesn't count?Whose suffering have I accepted as normal?Whose voice have I decided doesn't matter quite as much as others?How am I actually answering this question with my life, not with my words?Why didn't Black service members get access to the GI Bill after returning from World War II?How is the Republican adoption of the Southern Strategy to disenfranchise Black voters starting in the 1950s still functioning?How was a Black family supposed to build generational wealth when redlining was legal?What do I do with the half that's correct?Who is my neighbor?How are people with their backs against the wall supposed to relate to Christianity when Christians have their boot on their necks?Will my brother keep me?How have you been complicit in creating the conditions you say you don't want?You think that didn't affect him?You think he went home and was a good father? A good husband?You think that violence stayed contained in the Sugar House?You think you got something to say, don't you?Are you a racist?What do you think about slavery?What do you think about policing?What about reparations?What about income inequality?What is this project going to accomplish?How is this going to make a difference in my life?Are you really my brother's keeper, or are you just performing?What does repentance look like?What does turning away from these sins look like?What does making amends look like?Who have you decided doesn't count as your brother?How has your boundary line shifted over time?Who is included that wasn't before, and who has now shifted beyond that border?What would it cost you to say yes to someone you've been saying no to?What are the things your grandparents taught you—not explicitly, but through silence, through who was welcome in your home, through what neighborhood you lived in—that were actually answering "no" to this question?Which of those things are you still practicing?Am I ready to become my brother's keeper?What would it cost me to actually be this person's keeper?What have I taught you, through my actions and choices rather than my words, about who counts as your brother?Is that the inheritance you want from me?

"Asking the right questions the right way at the right time can often be more of a determinant of your success than being the person to raise their hand and come up with the answer." - Amy Radin Amy Radin is a pioneer in corporate innovation and strategic questioning. Amy shares her journey from the influence of her father's corner drugstore to becoming one of the world's first Chief Innovation Officers at Citi, and her roles at American Express, E-Trade, and more. The conversation delves into the importance of curiosity and questioning for personal growth, achieving corporate goals, the emotional and practical aspects of leading change, and the role of strategic questioning in innovation. Amy also discusses her experiences as an early-stage investor and advisor, highlighting the significance of asking the right questions to assess founders' pitches and provide guidance as they build their companies. Sign up for Amy's newsletter, Uncommonly Pragmatic, at her website amyradin.com.  Amy is available for live or virtual keynotes and workshops. She can be easily reached through LinkedIn direct messages to collaborate on how to bring her expertise to positively impact your organization. This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Keep questioning! Episode Notes00:00 Introduction: The Power of Questions01:28 Welcome to Curated Questions02:06 Meet Amy Radin: A Pioneer in Innovation04:01 Amy's Early Influences and Corporate Journey05:13 Transition to Early Stage Investing07:29 Understanding Founders Through Questions10:51 The Importance of Diverse Expertise17:16 Building a Personal Advisory Board18:22 Handling Resistance with Questions21:43 Effective Interview Questions30:42 The Power of Asking Questions in Teams36:10 Emotional Aspects of Change40:49 Modern Change Management43:46 Multi-Generational Workforce Challenges46:14 Coalition Building for Change48:07 Balancing Historical Knowledge and Innovation50:37 Understanding Resistance and Fear51:28 The Role of Experimentation52:21 Digital Channels in Customer Acquisition53:20 Designing Experiments with Skeptics54:36 Financial Discipline and Digital Innovation55:47 Customer Service and Digital Channels56:12 Prioritizing Questions and Experiments59:05 Becoming a Chief Innovation Officer01:00:59 Challenging Assumptions with Questions01:08:39 Qualitative Insight Gathering01:12:28 The Emotional Side of Finances01:16:33 Career Reflections and Resilience01:21:23 Teaching and Strategic Advocacy01:22:30 Celebrating Success and Staying Curious01:23:46 Morning Walks and Creative Thinking01:25:38 Final Thoughts and Places to Connect With Amy Radin01:27:36 Closing Remarks and Takeaways Resources MentionedThe Change Maker's Playbook by Amy RadinSoundboard Venture FundA More Beautiful Question by Warren BergerKotter's Eight Steps For Leading ChangeLarry Keeley on LinkedInThe Diary Of A CEOJohn Dewey High SchoolSpike LeeJohn DeweyAmy Radin Website for the Uncommonly Pragmatic NewsletterAmy Radin on LinkedInProducer Ben FordBeauty Pill Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?What am I gonna do with myself now?My first question was, well, what's that?What were some of those right questions to be able to get a little bit deeper?What questions am I gonna ask?Can you tell me more about that? How did you figure that out? Or I'd love to understand that better. Can you dig in a little more?Do we wanna go to the next step?Have there been some particularly insightful questions that founders have asked of your team that have resonated with you?What else do they bring to the table?I would ask tell me a little bit about some of your recent experiences working with some of your other portfolio companies and how you've helped them out. Tell me about a situation when another portfolio founder when the market changed and they almost had the rug pulled out from under them, what was your reaction and were you able to step in and help them?Tell me a story, not what would you do?Has there been anything this new venture has taught you about questions that all of your other previous experience hadn't taught you?What do you think might be a personal bootcamp that somebody could do that could help build that experience?Ask, wow, I'd love to understand more where you're coming from. Could we walk through it? Because I wanna appreciate what you're trying to do and why you're uncomfortable with this. So, can you help me understand your perspective better?How did I do? Did I do this three times?What do you think makes for a good question?What are the key requirements? What do I really need from this person? What would you do about X, Y, Z?Help me understand what you did. What you felt and what you thought, and how did you actually handle that situation?What metrics should we consider that would be appropriate to helping us understand the potential for this idea that would make us feel good about this tiny little investment you wanna make for prototype?How can they bring the entire questioning game in the conversation up another level,What do I really wanna understand better about this opportunity?What do I really wanna understand better about working with these investors?Do I wanna use the opportunity of this call/pitch session/diligence to ask them their advice about something? And can I be candid about?Why can't you...? How might you...?How do you think about that feeling or that component of us and bringing that into the workplace?How is this change going to affect my career and what happens to me and my ability to pay my mortgage and send my child to college?How do you feel?Why does Sally seem so upset at the meetings?As you are engaging with a company and helping them think through change, how do questions play a role in that process?Who's gonna be there? What's their mindset about learning? Is it a curious organization? How would you describe the culture?What role do questions play in change?How do I really accomplish this change?How does fostering curiosity and questions play a role in coalition building?How do you get that tipping point?What role can digital channels be effective to attract new customers?What aspects do we think that innovating around the digital experience could favorably impact those aspects, those financial drivers of the business?What role could digital channels play in customer service that could improve the customer relationship, lower costs, improve customer satisfaction, reduce attrition, and increase people's usage of the card?What role does digital technology play in our business to benefit customers and shareholders?How did you become a chief innovation officer?What's that?What do you think about specifically on questions in challenging assumptions?Why are we doing it like this?Where did that assumption come from?When people go online, what happens to call volume?What do we measure?How do you see questions playing a role in sparking insights?How are people managing their financial lives in the context of dealing with all the fallout from the financial crisis?Are things filed, or is it a big mess in a paper stack? Why is it set up like that?What are all the things that I could do?You had mentioned early on about not being the cookie-cutter person, and wanting to be out there on the edges a little bit and mixing things up. How has that served you?What can we do about this?Would you be interested in teaching this Strategic Advocacy course? What the hell is that?What do you need to do next?What are your right now questions or question that you're working with?I'm wondering why some of my best questions seem to come to me when I'm talking to my dog?Are there any areas of questions that we didn't touch on that you were hoping to or excited to be able to touch on?Where is this the best place for folks to track you down and see the things that you're working on and the things that you're excited about?How would your career trajectory change if you spent the next year becoming known for asking brilliant questions rather than providing quick answers?Can you identify three times over the coming week when you could practice asking "Help me understand your perspective" instead of explaining why someone is wrong?Who are the people in your network who know what you don't know, and how could you formally invite skeptical perspectives into your most important decisions?What would happen if you designated a regular meeting as question-only, where solutions are forbidden and curiosity is the only currency?

"If we start talking about developing people, you have to ask those deep questions." - Dave McGurkDave is a transformational leader who bridges military precision with cutting-edge organizational development. As Founder and CEO of Veridian Perspective and Vice President at Apogee Global RMS, Dave brings over 20 years of executive leadership experience. His impressive 30-year military career includes Training Operations Director at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Army Enterprise liaison and senior executive advisor to U.S. Army European, African and Special Operations Command teams.He has managed multi-billion-dollar budgets, led teams of hundreds, and influenced policy at the highest levels of government—including presidential-level decisions. His approach blends 30 years of military leadership, adult education, & neuroscience to create AI-powered diagnostics, hyper-personalized development, and dynamic simulations for resilient leaders in a volatile world.Ken Woodward engages in a profound discussion with Dave McGurk, a transformational leader with a rich background in military leadership and organizational development. Dave shares his experiences, including a pivotal moment during his deployment in Iraq where he learned the cultural importance of time through the simple act of removing his watch. This revelation led him to question the embedded cognitive frameworks that shape our understanding of the world.Through deeply reflective questions, Dave emphasizes the importance of framing problems accurately, understanding inherited mental models, and fostering genuine connections with others. He introduces his innovative seat swap counseling method, which promotes genuine feedback and psychological safety. This episode explores the transformative power of questions in personal growth and leadership development, encouraging listeners to challenge their assumptions and continually evolve.This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com.Keep questioning!Episode Notes00:00 Reflecting on Leadership and Influence01:16 Welcome to Curated Questions02:02 Introducing Dave McGurk04:03 Dave's Military Background and Leadership Experience04:40 Cultural Challenges in Iraq06:36 Learning from Iraqi Commanders11:11 Building Trust and Relationships13:44 The Importance of Asking the Right Questions19:14 Teaching Critical Thinking in the Military20:25 Challenging Assumptions and Mental Models22:51 The Role of Vulnerability in Leadership31:07 Navigating Authority Bias34:21 Transition to Defense Contracting and Consulting35:06 Understanding Mental Models and Cognitive Frameworks35:54 The Power of Disruptive Questions36:36 Teaching Creative Thinking and Problem Solving39:56 Developing a Questioning Practice44:49 Reflecting on Mental Models and Growth45:39 Sports Analogies and Human Development46:24 Personal Journey and Military Experience48:22 The Impact of Suicide in the Military49:22 Leadership and Connection with Soldiers49:43 A Pivotal Moment: Jeremy LeClair's Story50:03 Psychological Autopsy and Leadership Reflection51:30 Commitment to Authentic Leadership52:21 The Importance of Deep Questions52:38 Understanding Mental Models59:17 Challenges of Egocentric Thought01:00:46 Feedback Mechanisms and Counseling01:02:27 Connecting with People in Leadership01:03:25 Deployment and Leadership Challenges01:06:52 Empowering Teams and Challenging Authority Bias01:08:09 Excitement for Future Leadership Development01:14:35 Curated Questions and Continuous Improvement01:21:01 Final Thoughts and TakeawaysResources MentionedGeneral DempseyArmy's Command General Staff CollegeCONOPMk PalmoreApogee Global RMSThinking Fast and Slow by Kahnemanexperiential learning modelJeremy LeClairthe Leadership Student 2.0 podcastProducer Ben FordBeauty Pill Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?What else am I missing?As an American who is over here supporting this country and this culture, what else do you not think I understand?What do you think sets you apart in your approach versus those who came behind?What are they really getting after?What is it that you're really looking for?What's the problem?What am I missing? How do I see the problem? What are the facts that are relevant to the problem? And what's gonna allow me to open my aperture to see a different dimension of the problem?How did that question rubric land with those that you were teaching or bringing up behind?What is the question that you need to ask somebody to turn that into a fact?What do you think?What are the things that you're struggling with? What are the questions that you're trying to figure out? What haven't you had answered?Am I trying to disrupt it in the right way?Why did you jump on the one that was wrong?What are the things that you think about that really drive the way you think?How does your brain work?How do we challenge that?How do we challenge our own ability to understand how we're thinking and how we're gonna make a difference for us?How can we develop a questioning practice or a way of living that ensures that we look beyond just the top drawer?What are those echoes that kind of govern how we think?What assumptions had to be made here that would turn into facts that are still applicable here?How do we match that against what we think our inherited mental model is that is driving that for us?Am I aware of those shortcuts that my brain is making?Am I a reflection of the rewiring and the response?How do I change the framework?What is this doing to me?Do you have any idea where that came from?What is it that's going on?What are those reflexive interpretations that are coming?What are those echoes that are coming back and feeding us?What was it about me that made you think that I was a good leader?What invasive cognitive model has colonized your mind without your permission?What is that question really trying to get at the heart of?How does ego fit into all of this story?Is this the right perspective? How do I shape that perspective?How are you doing? How's your wife? You get a birthday next week, how does it feel to be getting old?How did you take that staff and turn it into such a machine in such a short period of time?How are our customers doing?How would you feel if you would have one of your VPs sit down and give you counseling about what you're doing? Are you crazy? Why would I do that?What elements are you most excited about in this next season that you're going into, with all that you've been creating?Did we miss anything about questions?What are the questions that you're working with right now for you personally?How are you gonna experience catastrophic success?What inherited beliefs about the right way to operate might you be clinging to without questioning their validity in different contexts?How might your current problem be completely reframed if you ask, what am I missing instead of how do I solve this?Which of your firmly held beliefs did you actually choose versus inherit from your environment? And are they still serving you?What would change in your relationships if you literally or figuratively swap seats with those you lead or work alongside?

"Who am I? Was never gonna turn out well. Who do I say I am? Had a chance." - Mike HilsonHost Ken Woodward welcomes Pastor Mike Hilson, senior pastor of New Life Church. They delve deep into how questions shape identity, leadership, and personal growth. Mike shares his journey, from wrestling with self-identity as a child to leading a thriving network of churches. Key discussions include the necessity of creative boredom, the evolution of the question 'Who do I say I am?', the importance of strategic delegation, and balancing doctrinal adherence with familial love.  Episode Notes00:00 The Origin of a Pivotal Question01:51 Introducing Mike Hilson03:18 Mike's Early Life and the Power of Questions04:16 Struggles in School and the Importance of 'Why'05:18 College Years and Career Decisions05:49 Journey into Ministry06:14 Challenges and Realizations in Ministry08:21 Creative Boredom and Leadership11:00 Self-Awareness and Personal Growth11:24 Marriage and Life Decisions15:38 Parenting and Fatherhood17:24 Wrestling with Identity and Faith18:17 Leadership and Church Growth22:40 The Impact of Lifelong Questions30:36 What is a Good Dad?36:16 Delegation and Empowerment38:57 Handling Authority and Humility40:38 Church Planting and Community Building41:58 Maintaining Humility and Perspective42:46 Mentorship and Church Growth43:33 Rabbinical Mentoring Approach44:04 Coffee with the Pastor Series44:37 Rick Warren's Baseball Diamond Structure45:39 Impact and Ministry Goals48:52 End Game Thinking50:36 Succession Planning53:27 Communism and Totalitarianism54:14 End Game Thinking in Personal Life58:37 Questions and Anger in Society01:00:48 Philosophical Base Choices01:03:57 Biblical Truths and Cultural Application01:06:04 Personal Identity and Roles01:07:26 Future Plans and Family01:13:13 Living a Full Life01:15:51 Common Question: Proving God's Existence01:16:10 Philosophical Game: What If I'm Wrong?01:19:43 Final Thoughts and Gratitude01:19:48 Summary Takeaways Resources MentionedNew Life Church in La Plata, MarylandProducer Ben FordSouthern Wesleyan UniversityAppalachian State UniversityJohn MaxwellRick WarrenNapkin Theology by Mike HilsonSpeak Life by Mike HilsonA Significant Impact for Christ by Mike HilsonCoffee with the Pastor by Mike HilsonTheo BoldenOutlive by Dr. Peter AttiaBrett FavreMike Hilson on LinkedInBeauty Pill Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?Why am I here, why am I here without anybody? Why don't people like me?Why is that bird doing that? Why does that rabbit hide there? why does that snake stand in that tree?Why am I doing this [college class]? Why am I here? Why am I doing this?What's this gonna be like?Why am I a Wesleyan? Why do I believe this about the Bible versus that?Could I be a Baptist? Could I be a Pentecostal?Where is your creative boredom?How have you used questions in that journey of self-awareness?If I keep dating this girl, I'm going to marry her. And I had to stop and say to myself, am I okay with that?Who do you say I am?Who do I say she is?Am I, Mike the guy who's gonna be a businessman who's gonna do this? Or am I, Mike the guy who's gonna be a pastor? Am I pastor Mike?How do I figure it out?How do I help other people deal with this?Who do I say I am? Who does God say I am?How could you leave?What do I think a father ought to be?What does a good father do right now?How do you properly unpack things?Which matters more?What did Jesus die for?If I fail to show grace here, how is it that I'm being like Jesus?How does a dad show Grace?What is a good dad, and how do I live that out?Who do I say that I am?What can I not, not do?How quickly did you embrace load shedding and being okay with that as a leader?How do I make sure we're taking care of them properly?What is the logical outcome of what I am currently doing?What is end game thinking?What do I leave behind?How do you think through what that building's gonna be worth in 30 years?What's the natural outcome if I continue to treat my wife the way I'm treating her right now?What happens if you silence half or a third of your nation and tell them they can't talk anymore?How generous am I being to other people?What does that mean for my life? What does that mean for how I live?What measure did I just use?What measure do I want God to use back to me?What does it mean to love my child, even if my child's gonna reject my faith?How do I balance these?How do you now do your job? What can I not not do to fit inside of that?Why would I believe in a God that you can't prove exists?What have I missed in my life by following a biblical worldview and the biblical tenets of how I should live?What if I'm wrong?What if I'm right? What have you missed?

"Questions are an extremely sophisticated thinking skill that everyone can use and practice all the time." - Naomi Campbell In this episode, host Ken Woodward is in conversation with Naomi Campbell, Director of the Right Question Institute (RQI) Legal Empowerment Program. They delve into the transformative power of teaching people to ask questions, highlighting its impact across various fields, including education, legal practice, and healthcare.   Naomi shares her journey from an inquisitive childhood encouraged by her family and school, through law school at Harvard, to her work in Mexico City advocating for migrant workers. The episode emphasizes the importance of questioning as a sophisticated skill that fosters personal agency and enhances democratic participation. Naomi also discusses RQI's unique methods for teaching this skill and how they support change agents in different communities.   The conversation provides insightful examples of how empowering people to formulate their own questions can lead to meaningful social change and better navigating decision-making systems.Episode Notes00:00 Powerful Questions As A Skill01:50 Meet Naomi Campbell03:33 The Importance of Asking Questions07:30 The Role of Agency in Advocacy10:59 Naomi's Law School Experience11:38 The Socratic Method in Legal Education15:49 Empathy in Legal Practice18:53 Naomi's Work in Mexico City20:04 Returning to the Right Question Institute25:39 The Right Question Institute's Mission27:22 Empowering Through Questions30:55 Examples of Impactful Questioning41:00 The Role of Questions in Healthcare42:05 Challenges and Mistakes in Advocacy42:42 Lessons Learned and Moving Forward43:38 Embracing Change and Learning from the Field44:17 Using the Method in Shifting Landscapes44:51 The Virtuous Cycle of Curated Questions45:56 Job Interview Questions: Examples and Inspiration47:26 Iterating on Questions: A Skill for All Ages49:23 Teaching Question Formulation in Classrooms51:42 The Role of Questions in Education53:44 Exciting Developments at RQI56:49 Connecting Questions to Democracy59:41 Micro Democracy: Participating in Everyday Decisions01:00:22 Combating Misinformation Through Critical Thinking01:01:11 Helping Others to Ask Their Own Questions01:03:41 Challenges in Healthcare Adoption of Questions01:05:53 The Importance of Patient Empowerment01:08:22 Frameworks for Effective Questioning01:09:58 The Power of Questions in Decision Making01:13:10 Questions As A Tool To Amplify Unheard Voices01:19:15 Takeaways and Reflections Resources MentionedThe Right Question Institute (RQI)RQI's Legal Empowerment ProgramLynn Borton at Choose To Be CuriousSocratic MethodHarvard Negotiation Workshop & the Alternative Dispute Resolution ProgramsCentro de los Derechos del MigranteMake Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own QuestionsSNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance ProgramSNAP Employment and Training ProgramsKevin KellyBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?How do you help other people ask their own questions?You said that, questions were encouraged what did that look like growing up for you?What were the things that you think your parents did right in helping you be inquisitive about the world or encourage that?What was it about the school environment that encouraged questions and is what you encountered?Who was holding that power? who is holding the power of questions?How can you use questions?How do questions help people both feel and express empathy?What kinds of questions are you asking when you are really listening to somebody?How are questions important?Is choosing to spend your life pursuing the questions that intrigue you common with your peers?What is the school going to do to prevent this? What are we going to do to prevent this from happening again in the future?What am I really concerned about?How could it be a better question?How could it be a worse question?What happens when you share the power of questions and how can that improve thinking, how can it improve advocacy? How can it improve democracy?how are you seeing the importance of questions in relation to democracy?Do you have any particular initiatives working on combating misinformation and disinformation?What brings you here today?Not only what questions do you have, but how can I help you ask questions?How do I help the people that I'm trying to serve ask questions?Who gets to ask the questions?Who in fact asks the questions?Who doesn't ask the questions?What questions didn't I ask?What questions should I have asked?Have there been any areas where you thought there was gonna be more of a response or a richer return on investment?What's the difference between a closed and an open-ended question?What are the advantages and disadvantages of both types of questions and how can you use them strategically?how do you order your questions?How do you use closed and open-ended questions?How do you ask questions about decisions?What questions do you have?Which questions of mine have to do with the reason  behind the decision, and the why behind the decision?What questions have to do with the process for making the decision?How was the decision made?Who was involved?What information was used?When was it made?What meeting was held?What role do I have?What is the role of the people who are affected by the decision?How did you come to this decision?How might you come to this decision?What can I do in this situation?What can I do to better follow the doctor's instructions?What can I do if my child is struggling in school?Is this the transparency that's supposed to be happening?Are people having a voice that's supposed to be happening?Do they have a case here?If we say we care about democracy and actually do, how do we uphold these principles?What is your right now question?How do we find the change agents in all of these fields? How do we find the people who care about agency, how do we support them, and how do we connect them to each other?Instead of providing answers or asking all the questions yourself, how could you teach others to formulate their own powerful questions?When facing a decision that affects you, what questions are you not asking about the process and your potential role in it?What would change if you permitted yourself to ask terrible questions before expecting to get to the good ones?Who in your sphere doesn't feel empowered to ask questions, and how could you help change that?

In this solo episode, host Ken Woodward delves into the origin and development of the 'Curated Questions' project, which began in 2018. Ken shares his personal journey of curiosity, inspiration from Tim Ferriss' podcast, and the influences that led to the creation of his blog and subsequent podcast.   Highlighting notable milestones and influential interviews, Ken discusses the structure and purpose of the Curated Questions website and its various elements, including famous questions and lists. He also reflects on the profound impact of asking meaningful questions, illustrated with personal anecdotes.   The episode encourages listeners to embrace curiosity and engage with the world through the power of well-chosen questions. Episode Notes00:00 Welcome to Curated Questions00:48 Origin Story of Curated Questions01:42 Early Influences and Personal Growth02:26 Tim Ferris and the Power of Questions03:44 Inquiry of the Day Blog04:54 Year of Connection Project05:53 Podcast Launch and Challenges07:31 Impact of COVID-19 and Social Justice Walk08:26 Relaunching the Podcast09:52 Website Structure and Features10:58 Famous Questions and Quotes16:05 Interview and Reflection Questions21:56 The Power of Questions and Conclusion Resources MentionedAmwayTim FerrissSeth GodinIOTD365.com Ken's first blog#yearofconnectionPodcast FellowshipRob Lawless of Robs10kfriendsPat EnnisTeresa VargasWashington Post Article about walk through Washington D.C.Lynn Borton of Choose to Be CuriousFamous QuestionsMaya AngelouHarriet Beecher StoweAbraham LincolnQuotesClayton ChristensenAi WeiweiJohn O'DonohueSylvia PlathKrista TippettListsQuestions from Tribe of MentorsQuestions from Benjamin Franklin's JuntoKevin KellyQuestions from The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future by Kevin KellyQuestions by Ryan HolidayPainted Porch BookstoreResourcesCurated QuestionsIntervieweeInterviewerGeneral Stanley McChrystalLeadershipEpictetusSocial JusticeIjeoma OluoPhilippa Pham HughesJoel FreemanMentoringJerry ColonnaPaul HarveyRainer Maria RilkeBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedWe have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? – Maya AngelouIs man ever a creature to be trusted with wholly irresponsible power? – Harriet Beecher StoweIf I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one? – Abraham LincolnWhat do you want to accomplish with this hire that is different from the incumbent?How much freedom do I have to make this position my own? What is a recent example of how this freedom has been demonstrated in this department?What are the assumptions that have to prove true in order for me to be able to succeed in this assignment? – Clayton ChristensenWhat mentor recommendation have you adopted, and what have you rejected?What would someone who doesn't like you say about you? – General Stanley McChrystalWhy is the vision of the company important to you? – Brad JeffersonHow long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself? – EpictetusWhat tone does your presence establish in the organization, and how does it change while you’re away?What was the best mistake you’ve ever made, and how did it lead to something better? – Tim FerrissHow much more of your privilege do you want tied to the oppression of others before you decide to let it all go for all of our liberation? – Ijeoma OluoWhen did you learn the world is unjust/unfair? – Philippa HughesWhat was the moment you realized, because of your skin color, the rules are somehow different for you? – Joel FreemanHow have you been complicit in creating the conditions you say you don’t want? – Jerry Colonna

"You were the most interested person in the room, and you're gonna get love." - Maury Rogow Maury Rogow is all about storytelling. He is the CEO of the Rip Media Group and creator of the Story2Sales methodology that's generated over $150 million in trackable revenue for clients. I appreciate the tag line, "Your brand will thrive or die, based on the story you tell." Maury's unique journey spans high-tech success and Hollywood storytelling. He built his business career at companies like Avaya, Lucent Technologies, and GeoTel—a startup that sold to Cisco Systems for over $1 billion. He then pivoted to Hollywood, serving as executive producer for feature films like "Bedrooms" and "Enter The Dangerous Mind," and working with industry legends including the creator of the Batman franchise. Today, Maury combines business acumen with cinematic storytelling to help Fortune 1000 companies like Comcast, Kaiser Permanente, and Ben & Jerry's create compelling brand narratives. His approach recognizes that in our noise-filled marketplace, every company must master storytelling to survive and thrive. Maury has proven that great stories don't just entertain—they sell. He's written several books, with his latest on the horizon being "Your Story Can Be Your Superpower - Selling in an AI world." He has been featured in Forbes, Inc., and Entrepreneur magazines. In this episode of Curated Questions, host Ken Woodward engages with Maury Rogow, CEO of RipMedia Group, to explore the transformative power of questions in both personal and professional contexts. Maury shares pivotal moments in his career, from telecommunications to Hollywood, emphasizing how a single question can change a transactional relationship into a meaningful connection.   The discussion covers the importance of storytelling, the benefits of embracing unique traits, the impact of framing on emotional responses, and effective strategies for leveraging questions in sales and daily life. Maury also offers practical advice on finding balance in business, the role of AI in asking the right questions, and shares key resources and techniques for developing better questioning skills. Listeners are encouraged to take on an audience challenge to spend a day asking only questions and to reflect on the impact it has on their interactions. Episode Notes00:00 The Power of Asking Questions02:44 Guest Introduction: Maury Rogow04:17 Maury's Early Career and Sales Journey05:56 The Impact of a Key Question08:16 Transition to Hollywood09:56 Learning from Sales Training11:49 Developing the Story to Sales Methodology14:35 The Stigma of Sales16:02 Finding a Career Path20:14 Influence of Early Mentors23:00 Informational Interviews and Networking24:54 The Importance of Asking the Right Questions28:57 How Maury Used Mr. Greenberg's Questions In His Career33:59 Story Over Features42:10 Fostering Curiosity43:07 Reframing Questions for Positivity45:29 Crisis and Opportunity46:19 Curiosity in Business47:02 Reflecting on Success and Future Goals47:50 Transformational Beginnings49:04 Curiosity and Inventions50:40 The Audacity to Dream51:38 Connecting the Dots52:07 Unique and Weird52:58 Encouraging Creativity53:45 Software Innovations54:38 Early Entrepreneurial Ventures55:48 The Importance of Questions59:15 AI and the Future01:01:36 The Skill of Asking Questions01:04:56 Mirroring and Negotiation01:08:05 Personal Growth Through Questions01:10:23 Therapeutic Journaling01:13:36 Community and Connection01:15:31 Maury's Right Now Question01:18:01 Ken's Right Now Question01:20:21 The Entrepreneur's Journey01:25:07 Final Reflections and Encouragement01:30:36 Maury's Recommended Questions01:36:42 Where To Find Maury01:38:07 Takeaways and Conclusion Resources MentionedStory 2 SalesNeil RackhamSPIN Selling by Neil RackhamRichard GrinbergSeth GodinTony RobbinsScript-Timer AiChris VossYour Story Can Be Your Superpower by Maury RogowKelly StarrettSkip The Small TalkMandalorianElon MuskSpaceXTeslaRIP Media GroupMaury Rogow on LinkedInBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?Why is this important to you?Was that a good answer?Do you golf?And that means what?That does what, and how does that work for you?How are things now?How do you do it today?What's the problem that you're seeing?What's the problem we're trying to solve?What does that mean?What happens if there's that problem?What's the need?What's the payoff?Where did you get that understanding?How did you tie sales to I won't have to go hungry?What job looks like this?Can I tell the decent story?Can I ask the right questions to get in the door if I don't know the answer?Should I pursue this as a career?Should I pursue it as even just a job?How did they get into what they did?What skills do you need?What experience did you have?What did your first 90 days look like?What's your day-to-day?What's the person you work with like?Would you mind introducing me to someone else who does what you do, or something similar? I'd like to learn more.That list of questions, were there one or two that you've found beneficial in various capacities as you've gone forward?What do you like the most about this campaign?What's this like? What's your favorite? What do you dislike? What's not going well?How does that affect you?What was the result of that?What are you telling yourself about that?Is this where you pivot and just come back to start asking questions in another direction?Is that a good book?What kind of questions are helpful for getting to a story?Can you tell me about a time that this happened?What keeps you up at night? What are you struggling with?Have you tried to solve that? Have you tried to solve the bad microphone situation? How did that work for you? Did that work for you? Do you have any examples of it not working?How do you foster curiosity?Why am I asking myself the negative version of that?Why didn't I win that project? Why don't I live in a bigger house? How can I be grateful for this amazing place to live in? How can I be grateful for x?Can you run this?Why is that amazing?How is that interesting?What's the opportunity?Has there been any particular insights that have come out of that process that has just radically changed the business for you?What can I do next?How else can I frame this?How do I do that at this point of a sales cycle? What story is needed here?Who else could do this?What's cool about this? What's great about that? How's that unique? How can I help? How can I use that to help you?Do people really know how incredibly important this is?What's the question I can ask my GPT Pro to get the best prompt? What's the question I can ask to get the best answer? What's the question I can ask to get the best result?What kind of questions did you encounter today?What [question] might you have been able to use when you're at school?Who am I gonna talk to about this?Am I gonna do an exit at my company?Where should I focus my time?How much time do I put on that?How much focus do I put over here?What does your body do when you are anxious?Can you say I'm excited?What would make this meeting the most effective use of your time?What are you struggling with right now?How are you currently solving that?What happens if you don't solve?Has there been a, persistent present problem, something that's recurring, that perhaps we could fix?How important is this? Is this incredibly important?What's your dream solution? What does success look like for you?If I come back in a year and I chat with you, what does your life look like at that point? Or what does your business look like at that point? What's it look like in a year? Let's take that vision and what does that look like?Where is the best place for folks to track you down and see the things that you're excited about?What would change in your professional relationships if you consistently asked people why your work together truly matters to them?What story could you tell about your work that would help people feel the transformation rather than just understand the transaction?What unique combination of interests, experiences, or obsessions are you hiding that might actually be your greatest professional asset?What situation that currently makes you anxious might actually be your body's way of telling you you're excited about the possibility?

"The meaning of your communication is the result you are getting." - Dr. Matt Lampe With a Doctorate from Alliant International University's California School of Professional Psychology, Matt has dedicated his career to transforming how organizations approach change, leadership development, and workplace agility. He is currently leading enterprise-wide organizational change efforts as part of Business Oregon's flagship modernization initiative, which focuses on aligning internal systems, strengthening operational infrastructure, and enhancing statewide service delivery to help businesses throughout Oregon. Sponsored by the non-profit Science For Work, Matt hosts the "Science for Work Podcast," where he explores the science behind creating healthier, more effective work environments through conversations that translate heady scientific research findings into practical action steps. His consulting practice helps organizations navigate complex transformations through change management, leadership development, strategic planning, and project management—combining data-driven insights with compelling storytelling. Matt's philosophy centers on creating cultures where people can thrive. He's learned that data alone isn't enough to drive change; it's the combination of solid research with relatable storytelling that truly motivates action and engagement. And if that wasn't enough, he is also a contributing writer to PositivePsychology.com.   In this podcast episode, host Ken Woodward delves into the significance of questions in both professional and personal spheres with Dr. Matthew R. Lampe, an expert in organizational change and leadership development. Highlighting the vital role questions play in verifying communication, navigating change, and building trust, Matt shares insights from his experience in managing organizational transformations and personal growth.  The conversation also touches on the deep tradition of yearly trips to Yosemite, offering a unique perspective on how consistent reflection against an unchanging backdrop can facilitate personal growth and evolution. Additional elements include updates about the curated questions community, announcements of new features, and an introduction to the Science for Work Podcast.  Episode Notes00:00 Introduction to Change Management00:33 Engaging with the Audience00:57 Podcast Updates and Announcements03:16 Welcome to Curated Questions04:00 Introducing Dr. Matthew R. Lampe05:35 Matt's Early Curiosity and Career Beginnings06:36 The Power of Questions in Sales11:50 Transition to Organizational Psychology14:10 The Role of Questions in Education16:28 Maintaining Curiosity in Organizations17:57 Fun and Empathy Through Questions19:36 Questions in Change Management24:21 Voluntary vs. Voluntold Change29:23 Evolving Workplace Practices30:59 Balancing Shareholder and Employee Needs36:33 The Importance of Continuous Feedback44:47 The Power of Asking the Right Questions45:21 Potential Pitfalls of Questions48:38 Understanding Workplace Survey Hesitancy49:14 The Impact of Psychological Safety on Survey Responses49:57 Challenges in Employee Engagement Surveys52:28 Building Trust in Organizations53:17 The Importance of Context in Asking Questions54:55 Introducing the Science for Work Podcast55:45 The Mission of Science for Work56:52 The Role of Evidence-Based Research57:45 Global Perspectives in Research59:54 The Value of International Collaboration01:03:30 Exploring the Concept of Place01:05:51 Matt's Yosemite Tradition01:06:49 The Significance of Nature in Personal Growth01:08:45 Reflecting on Annual Traditions01:09:55 The Power of Disconnecting from Technology01:14:21 Memories and Family Legacy01:20:57 The Awe of Nature01:22:49 Final Reflections and Takeaways Resources MentionedBusiness OregonMarco Polo gameScience for WorkScience for Work Podcast with Matt LampeDavid WhyteYosemiteJohn Muir - The mountains are calling and I must go.Matt Lampe at LinkedInMatt on InstagramBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?Why not?Do you like blue? Do you wear a lot of blue? Do you only wear blue?When you were doing sales, did you stumble into the gut feeling? Was it more of an empathy thing in making a little bit of that switch to inquiring instead of just assuming?What about you?What about the customer, the client, the person who is buying?How can we develop and evolve the way that organizations operate so that there is more of that curiosity?What motivates that?What does living a good life look like?What does that even mean when somebody says living a good life?What are you gonna do when you graduate?What's next?Have you heard of organizational psychology?Was there any particular role that questions played in the schooling portion?Tell me more.Is this working?How is this landing?How is it being received?How am I communicating this?What is the perception of this?Are we still on track?How is this resonating with them?How do you keep curiosity fresh as you go into these organizations?Why am I here?What are we wanting to do?How has that served you?What does support look like for you?How are questions assisting you?What kind of heavy lift are questions doing to help you to help an organization accept the change they're undergoing?How is this landing with you?What are things that might change in your day-to-day behavior as we move through this, and how do we make sure that when we introduce this new piece or these new pieces, or these new processes, whatever it might be, are you prepared for it?Did we provide the right resources, understanding, knowledge, education, information, and training so that you understand how this works?Where are you in this process?How are we meeting you, where you are?How can we continue to build on that momentum so that he continues to champion and advocate for this new initiative?You have a bunch of tools; which tool makes the most sense?How are you doing through this?How is your team doing through this?What questions are still uncertain?What are some gaps where we can provide some clarity?What do resources look like to you?What do people need in that moment?How are the people actually doing?How do we run the business to make sure that we keep the shareholders happy?How do we make sure that this quarterly report bumps the share prices?What could it look like if we did things a little bit differently?What does the research say?What is the metrics fatal flaw?Do we fully understand what all the implications are?What kind of behavior is that driving?Where are we now blind as a result?When you stop asking questions, is this working?Is this still getting the result that we want?Is this still working as intended?What else is now a part of the equation that we didn't realize or that we didn't know, or that wasn't even around when we first started using this?Does this still work?Does this actually make sense for our organization?Have you stumbled across any questions that are ineffectiveAm I asking the question with genuine curiosity, or am I approaching it with an agenda where I want to get a specific answer from you to help my case?What is your process for figuring that out?What is your experience here?What was the end result that we were trying to understand, and is there a different way we can ask that?Was there a specific situation or a specific event that disrupted or broke any sense of trust?What does it look like without having that trust?If we had more trust, what would it look like to you?Do others feel the same way?Who else can I talk to?Who else would I want to talk to?Who do you go to when you need to talk to somebody?Why are you asking about my blood pressure?When you did this research, what did you find; what does that look like in practice?If somebody was listening and they said, this all sounds great, but how can I start doing this today, what would you suggest?When you found this, what was the most surprising insight? Where do you think that this will continue to go?What's working there?How are you doing that?How is that impacting?Does that make sense?What influences this?What are the behaviors that you're doing?What does the data say on this?What components are similar between the two that could actually translate over with an impact?Whose stories have we not yet heard that can reciprocate back some of that benefit?Can you tell me about your Yosemite story and, what that tradition has looked like?Where are we riding our bikes today? What hike are we doing? Can we go to the river here? Can we jump in there? Can we go see this? Can we go do that?When I come back, do I want all those things piled up and waiting, or do I wanna pull some of those things off the plate?Do I wanna be able to come back to a different experience?When I come back down the mountain, what do I want to carry back with me into the rest of my life, into everyday life?What do I want that to look like?Do I still want to have the hustle and the grind and the busyness that I have right now? Or do I want to reevaluate and sort of bring to a close some of those things that I've really enjoyed?How long have we been coming up here?What is your right now question?What does balance look like?Do you wanna do this? Do you want to go there? Do you wanna be a part of this? Can you help with that?What does that balance look like in order for me to make space for those opportunities?What does it look like to make work better?Is there anything else we need to address, or anything we may have missed?What is the motivation for you, or what has prompted you to host and have curated questions?In your next meaningful conversation, what would change if you replaced your prepared questions with curiosity and simply saying "tell me more"?What important message have you assumed was understood without ever verifying how it actually landed?What system in your life, personal or professional, are you following without questioning whether it still serves its intended purpose?What would become possible if you regularly created spaces completely disconnected from your daily demands to reflect on what truly deserves your energy?

"When I even think that I wanna give up, I can't because people like this put their life on the line so that I could have better opportunities." - Dr. Latorial Faison Dr. Latorial Faison is an HBCU and Virginia State University Professor, Poet, Author, Independent Scholar & Senior Military Spouse. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Virginia State University. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in English and a Doctoral degree in Education. Faison is Chair of the Department of Languages & Literature and Assistant Professor of English at Virginia State University and has authored over sixteen books. Faison's research study, The Missed Education of the Negro: An Examination of the Black Segregated Experience in Southampton County, Virginia 1950-1970, focused on Riverview High School, a segregated Black High School that existed in Courtland, Virginia, and explores the nuances of Black segregated education during the Jim Crow Era. Faison's latest work, Nursery Rhymes in Black was released in June of 2025 and blends tradition, memory, and resistance through a reimagination of familiar childhood rhymes through the lens of Black history and lived experience. This volume just received a Pulitzer Prize nomination.   Not one to rest on her laurels, her next work Blood at the Root, will be released in the coming months, which speaks directly to the historical and ongoing violence, erasure, and resilience that define the African American experience. In this episode of Curated Questions, host Ken Woodward engages in a profound conversation with Dr. Latorial Faison, a professor, poet, and scholar. Dr. Faison shares her journey from growing up in a small town in Virginia, being raised by her grandparents, to becoming a notable academic and author.   Through discussing her work, research, and dedication to teaching, Faison emphasizes the importance of memory, resilience, and the power of storytelling. The episode also touches on her latest book, 'Nursery Rhymes in Black,' her role in the Wintergreen Women's Writers Collective, and her vision for fostering a supportive community for her students. A recurring theme throughout the conversation is the transformative power of questions, both in personal growth and in understanding one's purpose. Episode Notes00:00 Introduction and Personal Reflection01:57 Guest Introduction: Dr. Latorial Faison03:58 Early Life and First Questions06:36 Organizing Pain and Finding Purpose09:25 Challenges and Resilience15:30 Responsibility and Representation20:17 Reflections on Race and Upbringing26:51 Writing and Grief Work30:39  Mama Was a Negro Spiritual Poem37:16 Memories and Cultural Traditions40:06 Returning Home and Final Thoughts46:13 Reflections on Military Family Life47:03 Settling Down Post-Retirement47:43 Pursuing Personal Goals48:20 Balancing Family and Education49:39 Dedication to Family and Heritage52:13 Teaching and Student Struggles54:02 Honoring Grandparents' Sacrifices55:45 The Power of Memory and Storytelling56:29 Sundays a Haiku01:01:15  Abominations, a Poem By Latorial Faison01:08:38 Researching Black Education History01:25:44 Reflecting on Historical Figures and Social Change01:28:16 The Great Undoing and Rebuilding01:28:44 Hope Amidst Chaos01:29:15 Introduction to Wintergreen Women's Writers Collective01:32:43 Joining the Wintergreen Women's Writers Collective01:34:05 The Impact of Nikki Giovanni01:39:47 The Symbolism of Quilts01:43:47 Current Challenges and Reflections01:47:07 The Importance of Community and Legacy01:49:36 Like An Ancestor Poem02:00:40 Final Reflection and Takeaways Resources MentionedUniversity of VirginiaVirginia TechVirginia State UniversityThe Missed Education of the Negro: An Examination of the Black Segregated Experience in Southampton County, Virginia 1950-1970Riverview High SchoolNursery Rhymes in Black by Latorial FaisonBlood at the Root by Latorial FaisonJohnson C. Smith UniversityMama Was a Negro Spiritual by Latorial FaisonTom Howard Poetry PrizeNikki GiovanniEngrams Funeral HomeNat Turner Slave RevoltSundays a haiku by Latorial FaisonMr. Pete Ballard's farmAbominations by Latorial FaisonLucille CliftonPermafrost PrizeUniversity of AlaskaUniversity Press of ColoradoSonia SanchezBlack Pastoral by Ariana BensonCave Canem Poetry PrizePhillis Wheatley FestivalSpelman UniversityLauren K. AlleyneFurious FlowerJames Mason University (JMU)Virginia Humanities FellowshipIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal SkullJoshua DossMartin Luther King Jr.Wintergreen Women Writers CollectiveAmiri BarakaMaya AngelouToni MorrisonVal Gray WardDr. Trudy HarrisDr. Maryemma GrahamDr. Joanne GabbinAmanda GormanNational Museum of African American History and CultureRita DoveVirginia (Jenny) FowlerCollected Poems by Nikki GiovanniRenee and Jay by JJ MurrayOriginal Love by JJ MurrayJames BaldwinBarack ObamaGrey's AnatomyThe Bluest Eye by Toni MorrisonI Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya AngelouBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?Why me?Why in that way?Why was my life on this trajectory?Why am I here?What is my purpose?Do you internalize "always someone watching" as a burden?How many of you feel that you have a responsibility to your race?If the lady offers us a cookie or a lemonade, why can't we take it?How did questions play a role in challenging things early on?Will you write about me one day?How can you all come out of the same house, and kids end up so different?What is a specific smell or color that reminds you of your grandmother?How did questions work in that research for you?What did black educators do?What did they do in those classrooms to motivate African American students through Jim Crow?Were they providing culturally relevant teaching; was that a key?What can we learn from the students? What can we learn from the teachers?What can we learn from this totally black segregated education experience to transfer into the now?What is ground zero going to look like?Who's going to even be here anymore?What has the Wintergreen Women's Writers collective meant to you?What is your Right Now Question?What have I gotten myself into as department chair?What do I do next?What matters most in the moment that I'm in now?How can I make the biggest difference?It's not, will they like me? Will they help me? It's, what do I do? How do I move in this moment?And that's how I try to live my life. Yeah. How do I live in this moment?What pain in your life, if shaped into a story, might become a gift of healing for you and perhaps others?What place from your past still holds untold stories, and how might sharing them illuminate both where you’ve been and where you’re going?What place from your past still holds untold stories, and how might sharing them illuminate both where you’ve been and where you’re going?Are your questions keeping you tethered to the past, or are they propelling you toward the life and impact you’re meant to create?

"I suspect beauty comes when a question both sharpens and enlarges your vision." - AI Alan TuringIn this special episode, we step back to a cold December night in 1951 and into the warm, wood-paneled room of The Britons Protection, a historic Manchester pub. Across the table sits Alan Turing, the mathematician, wartime codebreaker, and one of the founding figures of computer science, who is brought to life through an AI simulation.Best known for his role at Bletchley Park during World War II, Turing devised techniques and machines, including the Bombe, that cracked the German Enigma code and helped shorten the war by years. His groundbreaking 1936 paper on “computable numbers” introduced the concept of the universal machine, and became the theoretical foundation for modern computers. Later, at the University of Manchester, he advanced early computing, explored artificial intelligence, and even pioneered mathematical biology.Our imagined conversation, grounded in historical detail and Turing’s own writings, delves into his enduring fascination with questions: how to ask them, when to abandon them, and why some are worth carrying for a lifetime. We discuss the interplay between beauty and inquiry, the discipline required to avoid seductive but unproductive lines of thought, and the place of doubt as an essential human strength.We also revisit his famous “imitation game” — now known as the Turing Test — and consider the boundaries of machine intelligence, the dangers of mistaking simulation for genuine dialogue, and the questions that only humans can keep alive, all while wrestling with the meta question, "Is this machine thinking?"This episode blends history, philosophy, and imagination while inviting you to consider what it means to think, to doubt, and to remain fully human in an age of advancing machines.Episode Notes00:00 The Beauty of Questions02:07 Setting the Scene: Manchester, 195103:20 Alan Turing's Early Life04:43 Turing's Contributions During WWII05:35 Post-War Achievements06:55 The Imitation Game and Turing Test10:23 A Conversation with Alan Turing10:58 The Power of Questions12:10 The Evolution of Thought16:12 The Intersection of Questions and Beauty20:30 Effective vs. Ineffective Questions22:00 The Discipline of Questioning23:58 The Ethics of Machine Deception25:30 Replacing Human Players27:06 The Limits of Machine Dialogue28:11 The Role of Doubt in Human Dialogue28:35 The Responsibility of Inventors29:56 Persistent Questions and Personal Reflections31:53 The Nature of Human Thought32:44 Protecting Human Qualities34:06 The Value of Human Doubt37:11 The Future of Human Questions38:36 The Risk of Seamless Imitation39:57 Reflections on the Interview and Takeaways47:50 Final Thoughts and Gratitude Resources MentionedThe Britons ProtectionSherborne SchoolKing’s College, CambridgeOn Computable Numbers (Turing's proof)Government Code and Cypher SchoolBletchley ParkEnigma machineBombeNational Physical LaboratoryAutomatic Computing EngineUniversity of ManchesterManchester Mark IMorphogenesisArnold MurrayOscar WildeComputing Machinery and IntelligenceImitation Game/Turing TestPia LauritzenDear Turing, I Have a Test For You by Pia LauritzenH.G. WellsGross Indecency LawBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedCan machines think?When did you first understand the power of questions?How did this intoxication influence your willingness to unleash your mind to solve further problems that could change the way we encounter the universe?Was it all at once or more gradually?How do you handle questions that change under your hands?Is that from scientific training, strict pursuit of the answer, failed experiments, where did you learn that ability?Where, for you, do questions and beauty intersect?What is your practice for driving to profound questions?Questions that trouble multiple disciplines, can you say more?Do you encounter much in the way of ineffective questions, or those you would determine as simply wrong questions?How do you break the habit of pursuing the wrong target?What informs your discipline to not look in the seemingly easy question, but to dig deeper for the better question?Might I buy the next round in gratitude for your initial buy?Is this just going to be part of the design by default?Have you imagined how people might one day extend this idea to perhaps replace players B or even C?Where do you see the limits of a machine’s role in human dialogue?If a machine can convincingly simulate a human, do we have a responsibility to set boundaries for its use — or is that not for the inventor to decide?Are there questions you’ve carried with you since your youth, perhaps questions that have stayed no matter how your answers change?Are you journaling to interact with these questions or, perhaps, depending on circumstances, to engage with them?What do you think is most important for humans to protect in themselves?Can you go deeper on perhaps the benefits of human doubt?What is your Right Now Question?Since you knew we’d be talking about questions, is there anything you hoped we’d touch on that we haven’t?What aspects of your own questioning process are you inadvertently trying to optimize away?In your daily interactions, when are you settling for the efficiency of information exchange instead of risking the messiness and potential transformation of genuine dialogue?What fundamental questions about human nature, consciousness, or meaning are you already asking less frequently because AI has made certain assumptions feel inevitable?How might you transform your questioning practice from a tool for getting answers into a discipline for staying human in an increasingly artificial world?

"Sneaker culture literature is no different than any other form of literature." - Dr. Jemayne King Jemayne, is creative, insightful, and VERY intentional. He is the founder of Sole Food Brand LLC, sole is spelled S.O.L.E which you will come to appreciate, and among many things, his company celebrates HBCUs (or Historically Black Colleges and Universities). He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English/News Media from Elizabeth City State University, a Master of Arts in English-Literature from Virginia State University, and a PhD in English-Literary Criticism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He is currently an Associate Professor of English at Virginia State University. Remember how I said creative and intentional? Jemayne is also the creator and Founding Director of the Virginia State University Institute of Hip-Hop and Cultural Studies, which includes a Hip-Hop Studies English minor, and the world’s first collegiate English course dedicated to Sneaker Culture literature and identification within Sneaker Culture. Yeah, I know right? He is the author of Sole Food: Digestible Sneaker Culture and the forthcoming book titled The Big House on Flavian. It’s a bold and poetic exploration of memory, masculinity, and the mythology of America, viewed through the immersive lens of the video game Red Dead Redemption 2. In this engaging and enlightening episode of Curated Questions, host Ken Woodward is in conversation with Dr. Jemayne LeVar King, an associate professor of English at Virginia State University and founder of Sole Food Brand, LLC. Together, they navigate a rich landscape of topics—including the intersection of sneaker culture and literature, the evolution of Southern hip-hop, and the profound narrative depth found in video games like Red Dead Redemption 2.  Dr. King discusses the significance of questions in both personal and academic growth, reveals the importance of authenticity in cultural participation, and offers profound insights into adapting educational curricula to meet the needs of future careers. This episode is a feast of ideas, seamlessly blending modern cultural phenomena with classical literary analysis. Episode Notes[02:06] Introducing Dr. Jemayne LeVar King[04:00] The Power of Questions[06:58] The Genesis of Sole Food Sneaker Culture Literature Class[09:16] Reimagining Liberal Arts Education[12:20] Southern Hip Hop and Literature[14:43] The Rise of Southern Hip Hop[21:49] Hip Hop's Influence on Society[30:10] Sneaker Culture Origins[32:35] Defining Retro in Sneaker Culture[35:48] Authentic vs. Inauthentic Sneaker Culture[40:01] Sneaker Culture as a Form of Expression[46:11] Teaching Literature Through Sneaker Culture[49:44] Sneaker Culture in Literature[52:33] Authentic Subscriber Insights[52:56] Sneaker Culture and Literature[53:22] Connecting Literature to Modern Education[55:01] Personal Academic Journey[57:31] The Importance of Feeling Seen[01:00:52] Gaming and Literature[01:01:58] The Impact of Red Dead Redemption 2[01:02:56] Literature in Video Games[01:09:52] Rockstar Games and Detailed Narratives[01:10:57] The Timeless Appeal of Rockstar Games[01:12:32] The Complexity of Red Dead Redemption 2[01:14:42] Replaying and Mastering the Game[01:19:29] The Cost of Staying Small[01:22:33] The Bird in the Cage Analogy[01:25:06] Insights and Human Value[01:29:47] Educational Adaptation and Future Jobs[01:30:38] Supporting and Following Dr. Jemayne King[01:32:02] Final Thoughts and Takeaways Resources MentionedSole Food Brand LLCVirginia State University Institute of Hip-Hop and Cultural StudiesSole Food: Digestible Sneaker CultureThe Big House on Flavian (available October 2025) by Dr. Jemayne KingRed Dead Redemption 2Moby Dick by Herman MelvilleWhere'd You Get Those? New York City's Sneaker Culture: 1960-1987 by Bobbito GarciaMarshawn Lynch: I'm just here so I won't get finedRed GrangeErnest HemingwayWilliam FaulknerZora Neale HurstonOutKastUGKMr. BiggThe Geto BoysBig BoiAndre 3000Magnum, P.I.Da BratLL Cool JKRS-OneGoodie MobPublic EnemyXXL MagazinePost Cereals: Fruity Pebbles & Cocoa PebblesLegend of Zelda rap by NintendoBear BryantChuck Taylor All StarAdidas Promodel SuperstarAir Force One from 1982Air Jordan Vindicate Vin BakerAir Jordan Revolution/Air Jordan ThreeStar Wars versus Star TrekNike DunkSandy BodeckerHa by JuvenileMarxismLouis Vuitton DonEmily DickinsonAlice WalkerThe Hate U Give by Angie ThomasUncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher StoweBy the Light of My Father's Smile by Alice WalkerWe Don't Have a Plan B by Redhead KingpinRockstar GamesRed Dead RedemptionRed Dead RevolverGrand Theft Auto SeriesHave a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks by Mick FoleyBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?Why isn't that considered academic when it's already been valued for its commercialization?How do I explain Smith to someone who does not know about Smith?How is it like Howard?Does anyone  have any ideas for any new courses?Why did he ask that?How do we not be archaic?How do you show that a liberal arts education can get you from this point to where you want to be?Do you think that that was the right question to be asking?  And if it wasn't, would there have been a better question to be asking?How do we create new classes?What are they rapping about?What do you think it took for the rest of the hip hop community to really see that there was something of value? Was there a particular artist or a particular song?How is it different between the different major regions?Is it specifically just the individual themself, or these individuals that come up? Is it their particular talent, that they just happen to be the one that can bring the rhymes ? Is there an element of culture and a region that plays more of a role than just, 10% make up a small percentage or something like that?Is that how it works, or is there more of a cultural, a higher percentage of cultural influence than the 10% that I'm throwing out?What can we learn about questions from hip hop?How does hip hop set a precedent for the rest of society?What is masculinity?How does hip hop set a precedent or open avenues for society?How did sneakers capture your heart?Why does this particular sneaker exist in this colorway for this particular purpose?Why are you walking on the side?Why are you adamant about not walking in grass?What do you think is the foundation supporting the desire, the practice of collecting?Inauthentic is concerned with how do I make a dollar out of this?How are you using sneaker culture to teach literature?What did I do wrong?How do questions inform your latest work, The Big House on Flavin?There's no need to buy that because when am I gonna play?What is maturity?What is masculinity?How does the society fall?What is literature?What does literature represent?Are there books about this game?What happens to a dream deferred, right?Can you help me?Can you tie that together?Is this a game that you would go back and play as well?What is your right now question?What is the cost of staying small?What is the cost of not maturing?What happens to a dream deferred?Do we have  all the right parts?Is the budget set right for having those parts available?Is the training appropriate for this?Where is the best place for folks to track you down, learn about what you're excited about and support you?What voices or artistic expressions are you unconsciously dismissing based on their origin?How might your biases be preventing you from recognizing their actual quality?In what areas of your life are you participating authentically versus simply consuming or commodifying, and what would deeper knowledge-based engagement look like?What established systems in your field or organization need to evolve to remain relevant, and how can you maintain quality while embracing necessary change?What opportunities for growth are you not seeing because you've become comfortable flying around the confines of your current situation?What is the cost to you of never testing your full potential?

"It is much safer to be vulnerable than you might think." - Ashley Kirsner Ashley is the founder and director of Skip the Small Talk, and believes in the efficacy of high-quality person-to-person interaction for improving psychological health. She has conducted research with professors at prestigious organizations such as Cornell University, the Harvard Decision Science Lab, and the Harvard Business School, on social and clinical psychology topics ranging from decision-making and implicit biases to facial expressions in borderline personality disorder patients. Ashley gained hands-on therapeutic experience as a suicide hotline phone responder and as a peer counselor at Cornell. Ashley received her B.A. in Psychology from Cornell University and turned down acceptances to doctorate programs in order to devote her time to Skip the Small Talk. She received a fellowship from the Harvard Divinity School for individuals who have demonstrated a social impact in the domain of creating meaningful communities. Skip The Small Talk events are regularly held internationally, as well as an online options. In this engaging episode of 'Curated Questions,' host Ken Woodward sits down with Ashley Kirsner, the founder and director of 'Skip the Small Talk.' They explore the transformative power of meaningful conversations, the science behind vulnerability, and the surprising benefits of structured social interactions.   Ashley shares her experiences from the suicide hotline, her inspiration for starting 'Skip the Small Talk,' and how intentional question design can foster deeper human connections. The conversation also delves into the physiological benefits of social interactions, ethical considerations in community building, and the importance of creating safe spaces for vulnerability. Tune in to learn how these insights can help you build stronger, more authentic relationships in your own life. Episode Notes[00:00] The Power of Vulnerability[01:57] Meet Ashley Kirsner[03:55] The Impact of Active Listening[05:02] A Transformative Call[06:25] The Magic of Open-Ended Questions[13:28] The Role of Basic Needs in Emotional Well-being[17:10] The Birth of Skip the Small Talk[25:18] The First Skip the Small Talk Event[28:39] The Evolution of Skip the Small Talk[32:56] Online Events During COVID-19[34:58] Work At An Anxiety Lab[38:08] The Importance of Positive Questions[42:40] The Power of Repeated Questions[45:33] Attending a Skip the Small Talk Event[46:14] The Speed Dating Format[47:21] Encouraging Anxious Participants[48:45] The Power of Sharing Deeply[49:32] Consistent Findings on Vulnerability[50:13] Understanding Oversharing[51:11] Structure and Time Management[52:18] Facilitators and Norms[53:12] Contact Information Norms[55:06] Intentional Iteration and Safety[56:37] The Role of Participants[59:01] Financial Accessibility and Investment[01:00:43] Balancing Accessibility and Compensation[01:01:49] Compensating Facilitators[01:04:39] Physiological Benefits of Deep Conversations[01:07:00] Research on Loneliness and Connection[01:09:02] The Impact of Loneliness on Health[01:10:41] The Role of Sleep in Connection[01:13:42] The Importance of Group Interactions[01:15:10] The Power of Intentional Conversations[01:20:26] Learning from Gathering Experts[01:23:19] Right Now Question & Following Curiosity[01:30:18] Where You Can Find Skip The Small Talk[01:35:45] Takeaway Thoughts & Questions Resources MentionedSkip The Small TalkChris VossFinding Good with Brian FretwellDr. Nicholas EpleyDBT - Dialectical Behavioral TherapyBrene BrownHow We Gather by Priya ParkerPower of Ritual by Casper ter KuileHow We Gather by Dr. Angie Thurston - Harvard Divinity SchoolDeath of RasputinHarvard Graduate School of EducationHarvardWharton Business SchoolMITGE AviationAct BlueBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?How would this possibly work?What are we doing here?How could this possibly be effective?What is it that asking questions actually does for us?In this deep end of the pool, for what you experience as a suicide hotline counselor, what does that look like?How did that impact you?Were there questions that you found most impactful on that end?Are you feeling suicidal right now?Do you have a weapon?Do you have a plan?Do you have any objects to complete that plan with you right now?Are you comfortable being in a different room from it while we're having this conversation?When's the last time you slept?When's the last time you ate?Can we get some food in you?Can we take a walk?Do they know anything you're experiencing right now?If the roles were reversed and it were your partner or your cousin or your parent who were going through something like this, would you want them to tell you about it?Do you think they wanna know if you're going through a tough time?What if we had a space where we were all on the same page?Can you take a moment to go home and be a little more vulnerable with your roommate, partner, family, or neighbors?Can you take that skill with you into the rest of your life?How are you doing right now?How did you decide to do your first skip-the-small-talk event?When's the next one gonna be?Is this even possible?How do you have people switch partners in a way that makes sense online?How do we do this?What do you got for us?How do we do this for like hundreds of people?Can you talk about that story of where you pulled the questions from, and why you chose the different questions that you did?Where do you live?What do you like about where you live?What's the worst thing you've ever experienced?When's the last time you cried?When's the last time you experienced awe?What's something you're proud of that you don't normally get to share with people or that might not be on a resume?Specifically asking what are pieces of yourself that you don't normally get to share?What is a favorite ice cream?What was something that this organization has done right to help you?What do you think it is about the structure that allows for that to happen?What other elements are at play here?Finances would be a barrier, can you help me out?Do you wanna do it for free?Due to your position in society, does it make you more or less likely to go to prison?How can we do subtle things so that you don't have to necessarily out yourself as having an invisible disability, but still get your needs met?How can we make people with marginalized identities feel comfortable opening up?How do we make those spaces feel safer?What is your right now question?What makes an experience awesome?What makes storytelling awesome?Why was this moment so powerful?Why do we dim the lights a little at dinner partiesWhat little things can you do to trick your physiology to be more immersed in an experience?Does doing a new novel activity with someone, trick your brain into being more excited about hanging out with someone?How can you make these memories more tactile?What does the tablecloth feel like?What do the napkins feel like?Can you just do five more of these?Can we do this throughout the year?What assumptions are you making about how much others want to know about your inner world, and how might testing those assumptions change your relationships?How might your community benefit from structured opportunities to practice deeper connection, and what role could you play in creating those spaces?If you treated meaningful conversation as essential to your health, as sleep or exercise, how would that change your daily priorities and choices?Are your questions designed to extract information or to create conditions where others can share the best parts of themselves?

"I realized that paying attention is a form of a question." - Robert Sturman Robert Sturman is a seeker and visual storyteller. Driven by an unshakeable belief that beauty exists everywhere. He has pursued this vision as an Official Artist of the Grammy Awards and the FIFA World Cup, and as a globally recognized photographer who captures the healing power of humanity through yoga. After studying art at UC Santa Cruz and Memphis College of Art, he discovered that his life itself, was art, and needed to become a masterpiece. Robert has mastered finding profound beauty in unexpected places - from the streets of Manhattan to San Quentin Prison, from Kenyan orphans to breast cancer survivors bearing their scars. His philosophy is rooted in Rumi's words: "I can't stop pointing to the beauty."   Through his lens, Robert demonstrates that everyone belongs and vulnerability becomes strength. His approach reveals that the most potent questions aren't about technique, but about trust, connection, and helping people recognize their own light. He seeks beauty where others see difficulty because he understands transformation happens when we're willing to look deeper. The most heartfelt title he answers to is Dad to Otis the Handsome Hound, an 85-pound English American Redtick Coonhound who was rescued following animal testing. Otis has nearly 7K Instagram followers and is an advocate for cruelty-free testing.   In this episode of Curated Questions, host Ken Woodward converses with renowned visual storyteller Robert Sturman. Robert, celebrated for his profound and inclusive photography, shares insights on capturing the healing power of humanity through his lens. The discussion explores Robert's journey from photographing idyllic beach yogis to documenting yoga practice in diverse and challenging settings, including maximum security prisons and amongst war veterans.  Through his lens, he celebrates vulnerability, trust, and beauty in unexpected places. Robert also delves into his advocacy work with his rescued animal companion Otis, highlighting the critical issue of cruelty-free product testing. Throughout the episode, recurring themes focus on the transformative power of paying attention, the courageous response to criticism, and the continuous pursuit of personal and artistic growth. Episode Notes[00:00] Introduction to San Quentin Experience[01:10] Welcome to Curated Questions[01:34] Content Warning and Subscription Reminder[02:33] Introduction to Robert Sturman[04:06] Robert's Journey into Photography and Yoga[04:48] First Visit to San Quentin[06:53] Media Portrayal vs. Reality of Prisons[08:31] Robert's Passion for Yoga Photography[13:55] Criticism and Inclusivity in Yoga Photography[19:08] Building Trust Through Photography[30:42] Misconceptions About Prisons[34:02] Personal Reflections and Growth[35:56] The Importance of Self-Improvement[43:49] Transition from Military to Creative Pursuits[44:20] Tragic Circumstances and New Beginnings[46:00] Embracing New Technologies in Photography[48:04] Discovering a New World Through Photography[49:16] Integrating Documentary Photography with Journalism[51:10] The Unconscious Mind and Creative Processes[53:14] Capturing Authentic Moments in Photography[58:34] The Importance of Perspective in Photography[01:03:10] Honoring Humanity Through Photography[01:05:28] The Beauty of Aging and Life Lessons from Tao[01:07:48] Otis the Pup and Animal Advocacy[01:10:00] Raising Awareness About Animal Testing[01:13:04] Practical Steps to Support Cruelty-Free Products[01:16:35] Final Reflections and Takeaways Resources MentionedOtis the Handsome Hound on InstagramTao Porchon-LynchSan Quentin State PrisonPrison Yoga ProjectJames FoxNational GeographicLife MagazinePicasso's AcrobatsRobert Sturman websiteRobert Sturman InstagramRobert's Polaroid SeriesBraille InstituteYoga JournalThe Five-Minute JournalLeonardo da VinciLieutenant Commander Elizabeth CorwinVal KilmerECOS cleaning productsCruelty Free Leaping BunnySwitzerland Food LabelsBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?Did you see them light up?How are you?How is it that you ended up in San Quentin prison taking pictures of folks?I wonder where else folks are doing yoga?Why don't you photograph real people?What are they talking about?How can I understand this?What aspect of this should I take on and apply?How did that process work for you?What was the underlying desire to get those onto the covers?How else in this world would I be invited and welcomed into communities than with the camera and telling this story?What other way would I be able to go to prison except for committing a crime?How do you kind of prepare your heart for looking at these new communities as you  approach them for the first time?What kind of things do you think about?Are you studying them beforehand or just going cold?How has that worked out for you so far?In getting to know the people that you're doing this art with, do you use questions at all?Is that a part of any of your routine?What kind of car did you drive when you came from New York to California?How much was gas?Have you encountered stories of how your images have challenged and changed organizations or people?What are some things that we get wrong about prison?What does reconciliation to society look like?How can they best become a thriving member?Have you used questions at all in developing either your trust in your work or your processes for how you see the world through photography?How can I be better?What does that apply to, all ways as far as how you are developing or, working digitally, setting up the shot? Or is it all of that stuff or particular area?Does drinking alcohol fog you?How did you work through recognizing that the way you had been doing things was going away and be able to land on your feet with this new direction?What did that journey look like for you?Did you have that sense at that time that the meaning was missing?How have you known that you were in that space? Was it a physical manifestation?Was it just the confidence or what you were seeing through the lens? How is it that you knew that you're in this flow state?How do you know that?How can we honor their full humanity or their full being just by changing our perspective?What do you think Tao's wrinkles say?What rings true for you at the moment?How can I help?What can I do?What is your right now question?How can I make use of my time on this planet and be more awake?How can I continue to wake up and be here and face this world raw and do whatever it is I can do to contribute to the healing of in life?What resonated with you? Are you taking something from others in your interactions, or are you creating something meaningful together?How does the quality of your attention communicate what you believe about someone's worth?What are they talking about?How can I understand this?When faced with criticism, do you defend your current path or genuinely explore what truth might be hidden in the challenge?What one question, if asked consistently, would most powerfully guide your daily choices and long-term growth?

"They were the leather apron crowd, average guys intent on having extraordinary conversations." - Ken Woodward In this episode of Curated Questions, host Ken Woodward uncovers a forgotten antidote to our fractured discourse: Benjamin Franklin's Junto. In 1727 Philadelphia, a 21-year-old printer gathered tradesmen—the 'leather apron crowd'—for Friday night discussions that would revolutionize American civic life. This wasn't just a social club; it was a systematic experiment in collective wisdom that led to the creation of America's first volunteer fire company, lending library, public hospital, and the University of Pennsylvania. Ken explores Franklin's 24 carefully crafted questions that transformed ordinary workers into civic leaders, revealing how debates conducted 'without fondness for dispute, or desire of victory' built both personal character and community institutions. Through themes of personal development, community awareness, civic engagement, and mutual support, the Junto proved that structured curiosity could turn individual ambition into collective flourishing. Drawing from Franklin's original rules, including banning words like 'certainly' and fining members who spoke too definitively, Ken explains how the Junto combined three elements that modern groups often keep separate: personal growth, civic action, and genuine friendship. The episode includes a vulnerable reflection on intellectual loneliness and ends with a direct challenge: Start this Friday. Find three curious people. Ask one of Franklin's questions. See what happens. Episode Notes[00:00] Introduction to the Junto[00:43] Welcome to Curated Questions[01:04] Setting the Scene: 1727 Philadelphia[01:22] Meet the Junto Members[01:57] The Junto's Impact on Society[04:03] Franklin's Early Life and Influences[04:55] The Formation of the Junto[05:16] The Rules of the Junto[05:35] The Spirit of Inquiry[06:14] The Power of Language[06:54] The Playful Side of the Junto[07:19] The 24 Questions[08:12] Themes of the Questions[08:32] Personal and Intellectual Growth[09:17] Community and Social Awareness[10:22] Civic Engagement and Justice[11:26] Mutual Support and Collaboration[13:30] The Decline of the Junto[14:49] The Impact on Modern Times[18:16] Reclaiming the Lost Art of Conversation[22:25] Final Thoughts and Call to Action Resources MentionedHugh MeredithWilliam ColemanThomas GodfreyJoseph BreintnallBenjamin Franklin's 24 Junto QuestionsEssays to Do Good by Cotton MatherCotton MatherDeclaration of IndependenceLibrary Company of PhiladelphiaHugh RobertsBeauty PillProducer Ben FordPiscataway People Questions AskedWhat if I told you that one antidote to our fractured discourse was invented in a Philadelphia tavern 300 years ago?Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties of the people?Do you know of any deserving young beginner lately set up, whom it lies in the power of the Junto any way to encourage?Have you met with anything in the author you last read, remarkable, or suitable to be communicated to the Junto?What unhappy effects of intemperance have you lately observed or heard? of imprudence? of passion? or of any other vice or folly?What happy effects of temperance? of prudence? of moderation? or of any other virtue?Have you lately heard of any citizen's thriving well, and by what means?Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or elsewhere, got his estate?Do you know of any fellow citizen, who has lately done a worthy action, deserving praise and imitation, or who has committed an error proper for us to be warned against and avoid?Have you lately observed any defect in the laws of your country, of which it would be proper to move the legislature an amendment?Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties of the people?Hath any body attacked your reputation lately? and what can the Junto do towards securing it?Have you any weighty affair in hand, in which you think the advice of the Junto may be of service?In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, assist you in any of your honourable designs?What benefits have you lately received from any man not present?Do you hear what happened?Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice, and injustice, which you would gladly have discussed at this time?I mean, when's the last time someone asked you a similar question?When's the last time you felt safe enough to really explore a moral complexity with people who might disagree with you?So, how do we reclaim this lost art?How do we rebuild the capacity for productive disagreement in our polarized world?Have you encountered any information recently that changed how you think about an important issue?What examples of good citizenship have you witnessed lately that others might want to emulate?What problems in your community do you think could be solved by people working together?How has someone outside this group helped you recently, and how might you pay that forward?What's a question about justice or community well-being that you've been wrestling with that this group might help you think through?Do you see anything amiss in the present customs or proceedings of our democracy, which might be amended?The only question is: are we brave enough to try it?What questions will you bring to your own Junto?

"I brought these people together and now they're engaging with each other and enriching each other's lives." - Scott Johnson Scott is a curious listener and natural connector. He started The Computer Tutor in 1999 and then expanded to include a compendium podcast, which he hosted for several hundred episodes. Driven by an insatiable desire to understand what extraordinary experiences feel like, he created "What Was That Like," a nationally recognized storytelling podcast. Scott transitioned from computer business owner to full-time podcaster, to present first-hand stories from people who have survived unbelievable circumstances. Scott has mastered the art of creating safe spaces for guests to share deeply personal experiences - animal attacks, plane crashes, mass shootings, and other life-changing events. His genuine curiosity and ability to ask the right questions draw out intimate, honest conversations that tunnel straight to the heart and vulnerability of each story. He doesn't skim the surface; he creates connections that often move both storytellers and listeners to tears. Scott demonstrates through his work that storytelling has immense power to preserve memories, inspire action, and create a lasting impact. His approach shows that everyone has a story worth telling, and the right questions can unlock profound human connections. In this episode of Curated Questions, host Ken Woodward engages with Scott Johnson, the creator of the 'What Was That Like' podcast. The discussion examines how Scott's podcast cultivates profound human connections through storytelling. Scott shares insights into his journey from a computer business owner to a podcaster, revealing the meticulous preparation and empathy required to capture extraordinary true stories.  They delve into themes like the power of questions, creating safe spaces for sharing trauma, and Scott's personal journey of religious deconstruction. Highlights include profound and outlandish stories from Scott’s podcast, the impact of a supportive community, and using personal pain to create purpose. The episode is an insightful exploration of how curiosity and storytelling can break down barriers and build authentic connections. Episode Notes[00:00] Introduction to Curated Questions[01:49] Introducing Scott Johnson[04:18] The Power of Questions[06:04] Conversations with Strangers[07:43] The Tattoo Conversation Starter[09:23] The Origin of 'What Was That Like?'[12:25] Jennifer Caused a Fatal Accident[16:15] Finding Guests for the Podcast[18:30] Unusual Stories and Listener Engagement[23:47] Creating a Safe Space for Guests[31:05] The Impact of Storytelling[35:46] Outlandish Story: Shiny Ate His Own Foot[41:31] Heart-Wrenching Stories: Laura's Pain Became Her Purpose Episode[43:48] Advocacy and Awareness[46:21] A Fun Episode: Fabiana won The Price Is Right showcase[47:58] Editing Questions for Better Storytelling[49:38] Curiosity from Childhood[52:10] The Birth of the Computer Tutor[53:13] Learning Computer Repair[54:33] Avoiding Ineffective Questions[57:31] Curiosity With Scott's Kids[01:00:13] Empathy: A Divisiveness Hack[01:01:45] Building a Community on Facebook[01:03:10] Engaging with the Audience[01:06:36] Podcasting Rhythm and Collaborations[01:08:32] Meeting Meredith and Chemistry[01:10:36] Personal Growth and Podcast Evolution[01:15:32] Questioning Religious Beliefs[01:19:47] Identity and Religion[01:28:45] Scotts Goto Final Questions[01:31:46] Insights & Takeaways Resources MentionedThe Computer Tutor PodcastWhat Was That Like PodcastMeredith For Real, The Curious IntrovertYou Are Enough hoodieUltra Finishers PodcastSchool of Podcasting with Dave JacksonBuilding A Better Dave PodcastJennifer Caused a Fatal Accident (What Was That Like Episode)James BondThe Rest of the Story with Paul HarveyShiny Ate His Own Foot (What Was That Like Episode)Laura's Pain Became Her Purpose (What Was That Like Episode)Fabiana Won The Price Is Right Showcase (What Was That Like Episode)The Price Is RightBob BarkerDrew CareyBirth As We Know It PodcastWhat Was That Like? - Facebook GroupPriya ParkerGlassbox MediaIOTD365.comMensa SocietyGrammarlyBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?What's your podcast about?How does your curiosity show up that way?What's the history?Why would you get that?What started the show for you?Have you followed up with her at all in the years since to see how she's doing?What's the best kind of podcast to almost ensure growth?Remember so and so, wonder what's happening with him now?You ever talk to him anymore?Any particular primary way you find your guests?Are there any particular stories that are still on that list that you haven't checked off yet?What's the real story here?Do you think it's gonna take 45 minutes to tell the story?How do you go about creating this safe space?Do I really want to go on and talk to Scott about this and tell that story?How do you think about your follow-up questions?How are you working through the story with them in following your curiosity?Who was in your family?Who was in the car with you at the time?How old are your kids?Where were you going?How have you recovered?Have you had therapy?How did you get through it and what are you doing now?What was the question you just asked me again?What was going through your head at that time?What were you thinking?What was that self-talk like?What would I be thinking at that time?What happens inside the human mind when trauma is being introduced?How do you think that this has changed you?Is this person really going to lose someone, or what's really gonna happen?What are a couple of your most outlandish or favorite episodes or at the top of the list of stories that you retell when you're doing conversations like this?What's the weirdest story you've ever done?If you had the opportunity to taste human flesh, and it was legal, ethical, and maybe even healthy, would you do it?Remember that conversation we had?Why am I saying yes or no? Is it a health reason? Is it a moral reason?Is there anything objectively wrong with it?Is it just cultural?Where is our son?Something as precious as your child, how can you just forget them?What were you thinking when that happened?Were you feeling apprehensive?Were you asking a lot of questions as a kid?What's the difference?Can you fix that?Why can't I do it?What are ineffective questions?How do you even answer that question?Who's your wife?What kids do you already have?What did the questions and curiosity look like for them from your perspective as a parent?How do you pronounce everybody's name?Who else is in the story?Who else are we gonna be talking about?Is there any part of the story that you don't want to talk about or that I shouldn't ask you about?If go back to a certain point in your life and change something, what would you change?What was the happiest day of your life?Did you start the Facebook group straight away once you started the podcast?How did you two meet?Why don't we do a promo trade?What is your right now question?What really is the truth?If you were wrong, would you want to know about it?Would you want to know that you're wrong?Do you have any other thoughts on questions that we hadn't necessarily touched on at all that you wanted to touch on?What are you always hoping the host will ask, but they don't usually?Is there any part of the story that we haven't talked about that you wanted to mention?Where's the best place for folks to find out all the things that you're excited about and to be able to follow the work that you're doing?Are you asking questions simply to fill conversational space, or are you genuinely prepared to be changed by what you discover in the answers?How could your questions serve not just your own curiosity, but create spaces where others feel safe to be authentically human?What beliefs are you protecting from genuine examination because questioning them might require you to become someone different than who you've always been?What pain might you now be able to recycle into a newfound purpose?

"That's where things started with my idea and vision for this space." - Ernest Ponraj Dr. Ernest Ponraj, a native of Montgomery County, Maryland, pursued his undergraduate studies at Pacific Union College in California before earning his Doctorate of Dental Surgery from Loma Linda University in 2008. After obtaining his DDS license, he returned to Maryland and has since been a practicing dentist, serving the communities of Virginia, DC, and Maryland. In October 2014, Dr. Ponraj embarked on his journey as a practice owner by taking over a retiring dentist’s practice in both Silver Spring and Gaithersburg, MD. Over the past decade, he has modernized and expanded his skills at these locations, culminating in his move to Technē (spelled TECHNE) Dental in Rockville, MD. He is committed to ensuring his practice meets his highest standards of dental care. This is where a twist you didn't see coming is revealed. Dr. Ponraj, who prefers to go by Ernest, is also an artist. He opened his new office last year as a combination of a working dental office and, get this, an art gallery. Yeah, I know; this hurt my brain as well. I was confident that whoever was behind this operation had a story that included questions. The episode delves into Ernest’s initial fear of questions, the crises that led to his renewed focus on integrating his passions for art and dentistry, and his insights on how open-ended questions can empower and connect with patients. The conversation also explores the challenges and joys of merging two distinct aspects of his identity into a harmonious professional practice, and his future aspirations for community engagement and artistic collaboration. After we finished our engaging conversation in his office, Ernest gave me a tour of the gallery to gain a better appreciation of what he has built. The video of the tour will be available on the Curated Questions YouTube channel, allowing you to see Ernest's space and artwork for yourself. I kept the audio of the tour in this podcast as an experiment. A couple of episodes ago, author Jeff Wetzler discussed the importance of deep listening, as it may reveal things you might overlook in a video. This is an opportunity to test your listening skills and then head over and watch the video clip to see how your imagination filled in the story. As always, there are my detailed takeaways included at the end. Episode Notes[00:00] Introduction to Curated Questions[00:32] Meet Dr. Ernest Ponraj[01:29] The Twist: Dentist and Artist[02:01] Tour of the Art Gallery[03:00] First In-Person Conversation[03:10] Understanding the Power of Questions[04:43] Connecting Through Questions[11:12] The Journey to Practice Ownership[12:21] Challenges and Growth in Dentistry[13:48] COVID-19 and a New Beginning[15:40] Combining Dentistry and Art[18:41] Patient Reactions to the Art Space[22:25] The Role of Art in Reducing Anxiety[24:16] Ernest's Artistic Journey[33:01] Reflections on Life and Giving Back[37:47] Reflecting on Small Joys[38:00] The Art of Asking Questions[39:24] Understanding Patient Needs[40:17] Serving the Community[42:16] Balancing Dentistry and Art[42:50] Promoting the Space[43:30] Building the Right Team[44:05] Current Challenges and Goals[45:52] Creating Memorable Experiences[47:24] Connecting Through Art[48:41] Showcasing Local Artists[55:12] Interactive Art Wall[58:31] Personal Art Journey[01:01:32] Highlighting Emerging Artists[01:04:55] Final Thoughts and Takeaways Resources MentionedTECHNE Dental GalleryTechnedental on InstagramJeff WetzlerDr. Cheryl Lee-PowMartin Luther King Jr.El MacEl Obrero by El MacSean TaylorJaden DanielsSalvador DaliBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?Am I giving the right answer?Does this make sense?Do I know how to answer these?Did I do well enough on this test?Do you find that even today, you're more curious with your wife in asking questions?Do you find it easy to engage with your wife with questions?Have you always had that?What does that story look like for you?How hard could it be?How could I let this happen?Is this really happening?Am I doing the right thing?How can you really do it?Do I want my work and career to just be something that I do to make income, to support my family?Do you really wanna enjoy what you do and have it be something that when you look back on your life, you're like, you know what, I'm glad I did this?Where do I go from here now?What has been some of that experience been like?Why are you a dentist?Are you seeing that [renewed passion for dentistry] as an extension of art?Where do you go from there?How would you encourage others to think about perhaps merging areas of their life that others may not understand?How have we gone wrong?Did your parents encourage you on in the world of questions, what was that like for you?How can I contribute to give back to them?Do you get a chance to get back to India regularly to meet extended family?Are there any particular questions that you've carried with you, whether it's through seasons or, that you come back to?How many times do you floss a day?How can I serve the community?What is your current how?How do I even let my neighbors right here know that we have this space here?How do I promote this space?What is your right now question?How to balance the dental aspect of things is in terms of doing my day-to-day work?Any other things about questions that we hadn't covered down on that as you were thinking about the conversation?Anything that we didn't touch on?What would make you walk out of this place and want to tell somebody, that was the best experience I ever had?Where's the best place for folks to catch up with you?In doing your creating, in making your art, what does that do for you?For the three that you've got up here, what element is it that resonates with you?How might your own relationship with questions, whether asking or answering them, be limiting your ability to connect authentically with others?What crisis or major life transition might be calling you to stop compartmentalizing different parts of yourself and instead integrate them into something more authentic and fulfilling?What routine questions in your professional life could you redesign to move from information-gathering to story-inviting, creating space for deeper connection and understanding?What hidden aspects of yourself (talents, passions, or experiences) are you keeping separate from your professional identity, and how might sharing them create deeper connections with colleagues, clients, or patients?

"Albeit on wobbly legs, I chose courage." - Ken Woodward Curated Questions host, Ken Woodward recounts his transformative journey of questioning deeply held beliefs about patriotism and social justice, influenced by significant moments, readings, and personal encounters.   This introspective episode delves into his midlife reevaluation of American history, racism, and the resilience required to challenge ingrained myths. From walking through Washington DC to participating in significant social movements, Ken shares the trials, learning experiences, and the courage it took to step outside his comfort zone.   The episode underscores the importance of continuous questioning and engagement in personal and societal growth. Episode Notes[00:00] Introduction: Seeing Through the Myth[01:06] Welcome to Curated Questions[01:28] Ken's Backstory[02:05] Rethinking American History[03:05] Discovering Hidden Truths[03:58] Impact of Redlining and Racism[05:14] The Church's Complicity[06:19] Systemic Inequality[06:52] Influential Authors[08:26] The Reality of White-Body Supremacy & Lynching[12:52] Repentance and Reconciliation[13:24] The Unfulfilled Promises[16:38] The Walk Begins[17:38] Challenges and Conversations[18:34] Physical and Emotional Struggles[19:51] Community Reactions[21:40] Encounters and Reflections[22:26] Privilege and Protection[23:29] Friends and Fears[25:04] Blue-eyed Devil[26:13] Lessons from the Walk[27:10] Confronting Racism[28:23] The Importance of Listening[28:53] Mistakes and Apologies[29:39] The Impact of the Walk[32:56] Building New Communities[34:05] Final Thoughts and Gratitude Resources MentionedAn Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (ReVisioning History) by Roxanne Dunbar-OrtizThe Color of Law by Richard RothsteinSister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America by Melissa Harris-PerryThe Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church's Complicity in Racism by Jemar TisbyCaste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel WilkersonJames BaldwinNikki GiovanniClint SmithChimamanda Ngozi AdichieChristina SharpeResmaa MenakemC. Vann WoodwardJames W. LoewenToni MorrisonAngela DavisFrederick DouglassOctavia ButlerTa-Nehisi CoatesWilliam Loyd GarrisonIbriam X. KendiMary Turner and the lynching rampage of 1918Emmett TillMalcolm XLorton Prison in VirginiaWagshal's DeliBlack Lives Matter PlazaWashington PostTheresa VargasBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedIf this was the case, and 50% of this book was wrong, what do I do with the 50% that is correct?How is a Black family supposed to build generational wealth when redlining is legal?How would this knowledge would inform my understanding of the lived experiences of the Black women around me?What tendrils might this endorsement of state-sanctioned terror might have in today's sanctuaries?Why didn't Black service members get access to the GI Bill after returning from the World Wars?How is the Republican adoption of the Southern Strategy to disenfranchise Black voters starting in the 1950s still functioning?I questioned, how can this country move forward if we don't embrace the truth?Where did all the people sitting on picnic blankets go?Did we expect the passage of the Civil Rights Act to change all the deep-seated hatred and bigotry?How might this residue coat the rest of our society in both visible and unseen ways?Are you packin'?You think you got something to say, don't you?Are you a racist?What this project would accomplish. How was it going to make a difference in her life?

"That is the question. What can I learn from this person?" - Jeff Wetzler Jeff is a learner and teacher. Blending a unique set of leadership experiences in business and education, he has pursued this quest as a management consultant to the world’s top corporations, as a learning facilitator for leaders around the world, as Chief Learning Officer at Teach For America, and most recently, as co-CEO of Transcend, a nationally recognized education innovation organization. Jeff earned a Doctorate in Adult Learning and Leadership from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Brown University. He is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and is an Edmund Hillary Fellow. In May of 2024, Jeff published his first book, Ask: Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You, For Unexpected Breakthroughs in Leadership and Life. In this new work, he presents The Ask Approach™, based on a simple premise: tapping into what other people truly think, know, and feel is a game-changing superpower. In 2025 Jeff and his co-creator Emily Irving established the training and consulting firm ASK to promote the principles found in the book. Details can be found at askapproach.com, which includes a helpful assessment and an ever-expanding trove of resources for questioners.   Additionally, Jeff recently presented his TEDx Berkshires Talk entitled, "How to Learn Something from Anyone... (and Why To Try)," which is both entertaining and includes actionable takeaways. In this episode of Curated Questions, host Ken Woodward welcomes Jeff Wetzler, a distinguished leader in business and education, to discuss the profound impact of asking quality questions. Jeff introduces his 'Ask' approach and elucidates how curiosity can transform leadership and personal growth. The conversation delves into various strategies for designing impactful questions, leveraging curiosity in conflict situations, and the importance of reflective listening.  Jeff also shares practical methods to expand one's natural curiosity, highlighting the role of intentional lifestyle choices in fostering this growth. Together, they explore how fostering genuine curiosity can lead to deeper connections and richer life experiences.. Episode Notes[00:00] Introduction: The Power of Questions[01:24] Meet Jeff Wetzler[03:14] The Power of Questions in Childhood[04:38] Encouraging Questions in Families[05:57] The Sacred Invitation of Questions[08:01] Quality vs. Crummy Questions[09:11] Designing Effective Questions[14:08] Listening to Learn[14:43] The Three Languages of Listening[16:07] Practical Exercises for Better Listening[19:02] Question Strategies[23:38] Rediscovering Natural Curiosity[24:00] Breaking Through the Shell of Suppressed Curiosity[24:28] Injecting Curiosity Sparks[25:26] Heart-Centered Curiosity[26:22] Living a Life of Curiosity[27:09] The Importance of Scheduling Space for Curiosity[27:51] Balancing Busyness and Productivity[31:07] Broadening Perspectives Through Diverse Interactions[32:54] Building Bridges Through Empathy[35:15] Living the Questions[36:12] The Overlooked Importance of Reflection[37:51] The Right Now Question[40:14] The Energy of Curiosity[44:20] Awe and Wonder in the Other[46:02] Final Thoughts and Takeaways Resources MentionedAsk: Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You, For Unexpected Breakthroughs in Leadership and Life by Jeff WetzlerEmily IrvingAskApproach.comHow to Learn Something from Anyone... (and Why To Try) Jeff's TEDx TalkKevin KellyAction DesignBrian MorganDavid CantorFamily Systems TherapyJenny AndersonChris ArgyrisOrganizational LearningRilkeDiana McLain SmithRishi JaitlyJeff Wetzler on LinkedInBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?Why does this happen?How does this work?Why is this going on?Did your parents encourage that, or is that just who you were at that point?When you were growing up, how welcome were questions for you?Were you encouraged or discouraged as a kid?Did she indicate that she's overcome that at all?Can you say some more about how the second Amazing power of questions is they are Relationship Builders a sacred invitation?What are your thoughts on working through and drafting questions for something that you can prepare for?Are you trying to ask a question because you wanna prove a point or look smart or get someone to do something?Are you really asking it because you wanna learn?Does that make sense?Does the other person agree?Is it clear to them?Do I understand what you're saying?Do I agree with what you're saying?What's your reaction to that?How does that land with you?How does that sit with you?What does that make you think?How much richer would life be?How are you?What are some elements of listening to learn?What are you listening for?What's the person saying?What are the feelings that they're displaying?What are the feelings that they're expressing?What behaviors are they taking in the conversation?What did I hear the first time around?What might you be missing?How can you start to train yourself to listen for the others?What did the person say?What was the information?What was the content?What were the emotions that were being expressed or displayed?What were the behaviors or actions that they were taking?How could that possibly be demoralizing to him or anybody?How long does it take to get good at this?What are recommendations or ideas for cracking that hard shell that may have grown over our curiosity?What might I be missing?What else could be going on in the situation?How else might someone look at the situation?Can we actually use empathy as a gateway in?Do we surround ourselves with people who think just like us, or do we surround ourselves with people who think differently?Do we surround ourselves with people who have the same general patterns of life experiences, or can we surround ourselves with people who have different life experiences?How do we use our time? What do we read?What do we look at on social media?What movies and TV shows do we watch?Can we use all of that to kind of stretch our imagination of what's true in the world?What's out there in the world, what's possible in the world?How do we use our time in the sense of, are we packing our schedule so tightly that we're just doing, doing, doing, moving on from one thing to the next to the next?Are we making space to just get bored, just to wander, to let our mind make connections?How does one muster the courage to be curious about others?How do we get that courage to really learn to listen?What can I learn here?What can I learn from this person?How do they work?What makes them tick?What do they believe?How is their behavior rational from their worldview?What does that look like for you?How do you live the questions?How do I challenge my thinking?Has there been a section of the book that maybe you think doesn't get as much attention as you thought that it might?What is your right now question?How can I and all of us access curiosity more deeply, more often?Is that fair?How would you define that?What is going on here?Do you have any thoughts or encouragement about questions that we haven't explored yet?Where are the best places for folks to track you down and to learn more about what you're doing?

"I had a lot of small victories, but it wasn't until I showed up as me completely that my world began to change." - Shelbie Morgan Shelbie Morgan is a force for good. Good purpose, good energy, good vibes, and good financial literacy. For several years, Shelbie worked in corporate marketing and social media, with her last corporate role in human resources at TikTok. In late 2024, Shelbie bet on herself and pursued her passion project full-time when she shifted all her energy and talent into the Hustle Budget & Glow podcast. Her mission is to advocate for financial wellness and mental resilience, helping listeners hustle smarter and live boldly. She applies her Texas Woman's University MBA to sit down 1:1 with entrepreneurs who are building businesses, breaking barriers, and redefining success on their own terms. Listening to their journeys, lessons learned, and unfiltered advice to inspire action. We met in our first moments of a recent podcast conference and immediately clicked. I have been looking forward to sharing her perspectives and insights with this community ever since the initial connection. In this Curated Questions episode, host Ken Woodward is in conversation with Shelbie, who emphasizes the importance of showing up for oneself, making empowered decisions, and the value of financial literacy. They discuss her upbringing, shaped by strategic parenting and mandatory volunteering, and how these experiences cultivated her confidence, empathy, and strong work ethic.  The conversation explores the importance of structured freedom, the power of serving others, maintaining financial awareness, and the impact of manifesting goals and self-belief. Shelbie's insights highlight the vital questions to ask oneself to achieve both personal and financial growth. Tune in for actionable advice on harnessing your full potential and building a successful, balanced life. Episode Notes[00:00] Introduction: The Power of Showing Up for Yourself[01:04] Curated Questions: A Resource for Personal Growth[01:27] Introducing Shelbie Morgan: A Force for Good[02:46] Shelbie's Early Life and Parental Influence[03:41] The Role of Choices and Freedom in Shelbie's Upbringing[07:12] Volunteering and Its Impact on Shelbie's Life[08:12] The Importance of Giving Back[09:27] Shelbie's Passion for Sports and Extracurricular Activities[11:05] The Value of Education and Continuous Learning[12:17] The Influence of Family on Financial Literacy[19:22] Curiosity and Its Role in Shelbie's Life[20:55] Shelbie's Love for Gaming and Its Connection to Curiosity[23:36] The Hustle, Budget, and Glow Podcast: Mission and Vision[26:10] Shelbie's Journey in Entrepreneurship and Financial Wellness[29:24] The Grind and Money Management[29:31] Interviewing Entrepreneurs[29:48] Talent and Passion in Business[30:23] Developing Grit and Passion[30:37] Managing Your First Dollar[30:55] Corporate America Experience[31:56] Effective Communication and Saving[32:04] Understanding Your Finances[34:09] Subscription Spending[36:36] Monthly Bills and Savings[37:32] Emergency Funds and Investments[38:57] Entrepreneurial Aha Moments[43:55] Manifestation and Vision Boards[52:18] Self-Care and Prioritizing Yourself[55:44] Final Reflections and Takeaways[58:24] Reflections and Insights Resources MentionedHouston Food BankHouston AstrosHead for the Cure for brain cancerMyers-BriggsJim CramerPlant FitnessDave RamseyRobert KiyosakiHustleBudgetGlow on YouTubeGrub It Up vegan [email protected] Morgan on LinkedInBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?What did that look like as far as your parents encouraging you on in questions?What do you wanna wear today?What do you want for breakfast in the morning?What should I pack for your lunch?How do you think volunteerism has shaped how you're living life today?What might be some questions that might encourage kindness or you think might have informed how you exercise kindness in the world?Anything resonate there at all?What did you get out of it?Did you enjoy it?Did you have a good time? Would you do it again?What are the next steps for these less fortunate people?How are other people gonna show up for them in their lives beyond today?What else can we do next?What else can we do to help this person?How could you help them more, and in what way?Why do they have to live like this?What can we do?Why aren't people helping them like somebody do something?How does curiosity work into your life?How does that show up for you?When's the last time you played your game?What questions are not asked often enough about money?What are you spending your money on that you're not using?What are my bills?What am I spending each month on my bills?How much money do I have every two weeks?What do I have left to allocate at the end of each week, end of each month?What can I do with those funds?Why do I wanna save and invest this money?What does that overlap look like for you?How do I envision my life once I achieve these things?Is it gonna be more or less what you thought it would be?How are you gonna embody those things?There's so much beauty in this world, why not go see it?Were there any pivotal questions, whether it was mentors asking you or any questions that you asked yourself specifically, that helped you get to where you are today?Does this add value to my life?Does this bring peace?Do I feel like my nervous system goes into shock when I'm around this person or in this environment or doing this thing, or, do I feel joy and happiness and calm?When's the last time you betted on yourself?Where are the best places for folks to track you down and learn about the things that you're interested in?How can you create structured choice opportunities in your relationships or work to help others develop confidence and decision making skills?What consistent service commitment. Could you establish to stay connected to your community and maintain perspective on your own blessings?In what areas of your life are you still holding back from, showing up as your complete authentic self? And what would change if you did?What am I spending money on that I'm not using?What are my actual monthly bills and expenses?How much do I have left to allocate towards saving and investing?Why do I want to save and invest this money - what's the purpose?What is one essential question you could ask yourself weekly to maintain awareness and accountability in the areas of your life that matter most, whether that's finances, relationships, health, or personal growth?

"The secret to interviewing is knowing when to shut up and listen." - MK Palmore M.K. Palmore's story begins where many transformational leaders find their compass—in service to something greater than themselves. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., during a time when the city carried the sobering title of "murder capital" of the United States, the odds were stacked against his very survival, let alone his extraordinary success.   Yet from those challenging streets emerged a man whose unwavering dedication to service would span over three decades, taking him from the disciplined halls of the U.S. Naval Academy to the elite ranks of the Marines, and ultimately to a distinguished 22-year career as an FBI Special Agent. As head of the Cybersecurity Branch at FBI San Francisco, Palmore led one of the nation's largest cybersecurity investigative teams, battling the most insidious criminal and national security adversaries in the digital realm. Following his FBI career, M.K. used his cybersecurity expertise to serve as a strategic advisor for some of the most powerful companies in Silicon Valley. Today, through Apogee Global RMS, he channels this wealth of experience into developing the next generation of leaders to transform not just individuals but entire organizations. His journey from the front lines of national security to the boardrooms of corporate America demonstrates his relentless pursuit of growth. In this episode of Curated Questions, host Ken Woodward engages MK Palmore, an expert in cybersecurity and leadership, in a holistic conversation about the nuances of interviewing, the significance of psychological safety, and the impact of people-centered leadership. MK, a former FBI special agent, shares the invaluable lessons he's learned from his diverse career spanning the US Naval Academy, the Marines, Silicon Valley, and his own start-up, Apogee Global RMS.  He reveals the power of strategic silence in eliciting critical information during interviews, his unique approach to fostering team growth and leadership, and how his constant curiosity has been a driving force in his professional journey. Listeners will gain practical insights on improving their questioning techniques, building trust within their teams, public speaking, and leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance productivity and learning. Episode Notes[00:00 The Secret to Effective Interviewing01:08 Introduction to Curated Questions01:29 MK Palmore's Background and Career03:09 Joining the FBI: Initial Expectations03:59 The Importance of Interviewing Skills in the FBI05:08 Military Background and FBI Training05:55 Diverse Skills Program and Military Influence09:39 Practical Interview Training at the FBI15:12 Creating Psychological Safety in Interviews20:17 Building Trust and Effective Communication24:26 Developing Confidence and Overcoming Imposter Syndrome27:36 Public Speaking: Preparation and Mindset29:23 Engaging the Audience: Techniques and Strategies32:57 The Role of Questions in Professional Settings41:05 Leadership and Cybersecurity41:28 The Prevalence of AI in Conversations41:46 Challenges of Leadership in Tech42:03 The Impact of Poor Leadership42:44 Leadership Development in Companies43:15 The Importance of Investing in People44:19 Conversations with Small to Medium-Sized Organizations45:17 The Future of AI and Leadership46:08 AI as a Force Multiplier46:40 AI in Learning and Development47:42 Adopting AI in Business Processes48:51 The Disruption of AI in Various Industries55:27 Curiosity and Professional Growth58:52 People-Centered Leadership01:07:04 The Role of Reflection in Leadership01:12:00 Final Thoughts and Reflections01:16:12 Reflections and Insights Resources MentionedApogee Global RMSFederal Bureau of InvestigationUS Marine CorpsOcean VuongThe Daily episode with Ocean VuongMalcom GladwellHughes Network SystemsDwarkesh PatelKevin KellyMK Palmore on LinkedInLeadership Student NewsletterBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedWhen did you first understand the power of questions?Do you know what you were brought in for, or what specialty skills you brought to the table?What's on the ticket for this week?What's on the ticket for today?How many cases do I have?Were there any particular courses or books that the FBI uses to train the agents?What did some of that training look like?What were some of the ways that you kept that even keel?What are you doing internally to keep your cool?What set you apart, or why do you think that you were successful?What is the motivation that you have for leaning into the uncomfortableness?When did that process and that confidence start?What are a couple of components or examples of mind talk, or any of your other strategies?Any thoughts on the question that I just posed?Do you run through your CV before you give a talk so people know who you are?Do you just jump right into the topic to make sure that you grab them?How might you use questions in your preparation for a talk that you're gonna be doing or something that you're pulling together?What are they here to hear about?What do they think is going to be presented to them?What's the pain point that you have around this particular issue?Any particular questions that you found helpful or lines of thinking with questions that you found helpful in your conversations with folks?Can you help us figure that thing out?Is this something that you experience in your own organization?Who are the cybersecurity folks in the roomWhere's all of this going?What kind of position do we need to be in to protect against stuff that's gonna happen in the future?Does your technology work?What examples do you have of it working for other people?Can it be helpful to me?What questions are not being asked often enough in the cybersecurity world?How much of it can we ship?How much of it can we sell?How much of it can we make?What step would you encourage folks to take in understanding that element better?How has Curiosity played a role in delivering you to where you are today?Can I learn this?Can I then take what I've learned and then provide some learning to other people about it?Do you think curiosity is a skill that you can improve?What is a nuance that most people miss about people-centered leadership?What am I going to get done with this group of people that I have here?How comfortable do you think people feel in their current work environments to have those kinds of very transparent conversations with their bosses?What's next for me?What can I do to help you get there?What roles do questions and inquiry play in that process of leadership development?I had a rough interaction with someone. What role did I play? Or my baggage or my, positioning in that scenario, what role did I play in that?Do you go back and review your journals, and what is your process for how you use them?How do I reconcile my decision to do something really hard with what my reality is on the ground?What is your right now question?Have I done enough to go venture off on my own?Am I prepared?Have I done enough?Am I ready to put out my own shingle and do my own thing?