Unable to leave my desk to attend Attune 23 this week, as I had planned, I sated my thirst for knowledge by revisiting some of the presentations in FirstUp’s on-demand library (which is worth checking out if you haven’t already done so). One of these was from the author Jon Acuff, who introduced an interesting concept during his talk: ‘trojan horse questions’.
His keynote
tackled a much broader topic; this was simply a concept he referenced along the
way. However, it really resonated with me. He positioned ‘trojan horse’
questions as phrases that are clear, simple and don’t seem that challenging,
but which should make us think much more deeply than the words themselves
suggest. I won’t spoil the context, for anyone who has yet to watch Jon’s speech,
but one example was “Is it true?” – the idea being that we need to challenge
whether what we are telling ourselves about a situation, and which guides our
actions, is really valid.
The best
question I have ever been asked was ‘What is your ideal day?’. This simple but
deceptively powerful question had a profound impact on me as I considered
whether to start Sweet Comms, nearly 10 years ago. I now recognise it as a
‘trojan horse’ question, because on the surface it’s fairly innocuous. It could
spark a bland or throwaway response in the course of conversation. Yet, in the
circumstances, it prompted me to do a lot of soul searching and steered me on
to the path I took then, and for which I am still grateful on a daily basis,
even now.
I can only
share my own experience, but engaging with that simple question, really
engaging with it, was incredibly effective. I’ve posed the same question to others
in similar situations and I know they have found it useful. Maybe more engagement
with ‘trojan horse’ questions could help us all.
