Assumptions
© Copyright Frank D. Kanu 2000-2008
“He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.”
It has happened to us all—we asked what we thought was a brilliant question—and then we were the fool. Many years ago a student at a big German university asked in front of a ~2,000 student audience a question—just to be told by the professor: “That was a stupid question!” The professor never answered the question—to me it is obvious who the fool is!
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
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“He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.”
Chinese Proverb - some name Confucius as source.
It has happened to us all—we asked what we thought was a brilliant question—and then we were the fool. Many years ago a student at a big German university asked in front of a ~2,000 student audience a question—just to be told by the professor: “That was a stupid question!” The professor never answered the question—to me it is obvious who the fool is!
Do you think this student will ever ask again?
Experiences like that result in many stopping to ask questions; most assume instead. Assumption usually means that there has been no communication.“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
George Bernard Shaw
How often do you assume?
How often do you fail to ask?
Do you communicate?
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assumption assumptions brilliant chinese proverb confucius do you assume do you communicate do you fail to ask experiences five minutes fool george bernard shaw german university how often illusion professor questions student audience stupid questionTechnorati (All Links are external): assumption assumptions brilliant chinese proverb confucius do you assume do you communicate do you fail to ask experiences five minutes fool george bernard shaw german university how often illusion professor questions student audience stupid question leadership teams
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