Take Three - What’s Your Beautiful Question? Connecting the Dots ... AI and Curiosity

Why take three? In my initial article, “What’s Your Beautiful Question?” 2015, I wrote about the value of questions. In 2020, during the big wave of Covid, I reposted it, adding a few comments relevant to the times. While the content still has value and includes quotes from great thinkers (link to the original article and repost intro: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/whats-your-beautiful-question-warren-burger-lenore-mewton-msw-cpba/?trackingId=5nYuYG4NSYqfqu%2BuF0sCFQ%3D%3D), I thought it was time to revisit the topic through the burgeoning lens of AI in our worlds.?

(I still love the quote, “What’s Your Beautiful Question?”, from author Warren Burger’s 2014 book "What's Your Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas".? The title engaged me immediately as a life-long lover of inquiry. Nurturing curiosity ignites all matter of possibilities in our lives.)

I’ve recently embarked on a learning plan to increase knowledge of AI tools and resources, in general, and in relation to talent acquisition. My?plan has included taking courses on LinkedIn Learning (Glen Cathey: Generative AI, Recruiting and Talent Acquisition), reading books (Mike Wolford: The AI Recruiter),?watching webinars, the MATCHR Power of AI in Recruitment series (available on YouTube), and Unmasking AI in Recruiting: Demystifying the Spooky Side | Webinar | ERE Media (held on Halloween ??), with presenters Mike Wolford | LinkedIn?and?Martyn Redstone | LinkedIn, Founder of Bot Jobs and PPLBOTS. All voiced their opinion that?now is the perfect time to embrace AI and?increase learning.? They acknowledged that while AI will not take your job away, someone with AI knowledge will. My focus on building a sustainable career told me that this was not a boat to be missed.

Martyn and Mike emphasized the importance of how AI is used in relation to its value. While there’s no end in sight to new tools and ChatGPT and OpenAI models rolling out, without the developed skill of *prompt engineering, the art of developing creative, intelligent and I’d say, meaningful questions to ask these tools, the results?can be limiting. Posing queries for AI is not a plug and play situation. AI tools?produce content,?but not creation. It aggregates and repurposes knowledge, in light speed, to answer questions and?provide information. Partnering with AI tools, we can call on our cumulative?life experiences, past roles, education, skill, and imagination, all of which?provide fertile ground for querying (prompting),?resulting in?content that can, as Martyn and Mike noted, ‘elevate’ the industry.? With AI’s ability to take over time intensive tasks (scheduling, writing job descriptions, generating specific interview questions for each candidate), talent acquisition is freed up to do what it does best – engage the human element, have in-depth conversations with candidates and hiring managers, and?creatively make an impact on TA’s future. Rather than take your job, as Mike Wolford said, use AI to help you, as a resource, a partner.? Rather than leading to dehumanization, Martyn commented that scaling personalization, "elevating and humanizing the experience", is the most impactful part of AI. This was a consistent message throughout these presentations. Mike Wolford: "We invented AI and discovered humanity".

Why bother taking time to create the "Beautiful Question" when a simple query will do? Or does it. Getting the attention of people, prospects, candidates, in an environment fraught with spam and tension is hard enough. While AI can generate emails, often sounding like your own, by creating vs?automating, we're beckoning the 'elevated experience'.? Creative *prompt engineering ("The process of structuring text that can be interpreted and understood by a generative AI model… a natural language text describing the task that an AI should perform." Wikepedia), generates, in my mind, 'beautiful'?questions. We often rush?to answers in life, giving?in to time constraints and expediency. But ultimately, we lose out. We've closed the door to?new ideas and possibilities. Rather than?generating a simple reach out message, hoping to break through the 'noise' and gain attention, by using?prompt engineering we can craft a creative inquiry:?

"Create a reach out?message to?a UX designer in the voice of Andy Warhol, in the form of an e.e. cummings poem, asking what they're seeking next in their career".

Partnering with AI, the resulting message is one I would've been challenged to create on my own:

hey, uX maverick, tell me, what's the next big thing in your creative symphony?

what canvas do you see beyond the pixelated screen, what colors wait to dance and gleam?

are you seeking new horizons, a digital revolution in your design? or chasing dreams in a different line?

your talent's like a wildflower, blooming in this tech terrain, so what's the canvas for your next campaign?

tell me, dear friend, what's your vision in this scene, what's the next act in your design machine?

with curiosity,

Andy

(I could easily insert a pitch for an interesting UX opportunity here).

Wondering about your creativity? In my initial ‘Beautiful Questions’ article, I offered several strategies to enhance curiosity, including a link to this quiz, assessing your “Inquiry Quotient”: https://amorebeautifulquestion.com/whats-your-inquiry-quotient-quiz/. Burger’s book focuses on his research into the science of questioning, the role of critical thinking, and the concept of breakthrough ideas. He notes, *“To get a different, offbeat perspective, I even examined the way comedians, from the late George Carlin to Louis C.K., use questioning to challenge assumptions and “see” the world around them differently.”

Questions that expand the mind, advancing curiosity, is the stuff inventions are made of:?

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." __ Albert Einstein?

Consider making time to step back and tap into your curiosity or spark it by engaging with new experiences. While?we all possess a wealth of knowledge from our lives, inviting?new experiences?will help you challenge the status quo, develop new perspectives, creating unlimited possibilities for yourself and career.

"It's not the answer that enlightens, but the question." __ Eugene Ionesco

* https://warrenberger.com/speaking/why-questioning/