I whole heartily agree with Confucius when he said, “The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute; the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

Because of this, I’m always asking new questions of everyone I encounter in an effort to learn from them. Long-time family and friends. Acquaintances. Complete strangers. Everybody!

When it comes to getting better answers (i.e. more lively conversations), there are few better ice-breaker questions than these:

1. What do you like to do? (more fun than the default and boring “What do you do for work?”)
2. What is it like to live there? (asked as as a follow up to “Where are you from?”)
3. What are you excited about right now?

To adopt for people you now, just add “now” to the above and voila! Instant learning. When you feel ready, you can really dig deep with, “What are your guiding beliefs?”

Hat tip, Ahmed Arshad