What is The Only Dumb Question?

Posted by on Apr 8, 2010 in Personal Development | 0 comments

One of the many fun aspects of what I do for my clients and subscribers is to interview other authors who have great messages to share. Recently I spoke with Greg Reid. Greg’s newest book is called “Think & Grow Rich, 3 Feet From Gold.” Let me give you a little back drop…
The original “Think & Grow Rich,” was written by Napoleon Hill in the early part of the twentieth century. It’s a personal development classic that has been read by anyone serious about achieving more in their lives. Andrew Carnegie was the richest man in the world at the time. He saw in Napoleon Hill something that Hill didn’t see in himself. Carnegie wanted to document the laws of success. He wanted to share with the world what he and other successful business people knew to be a winning formula. Carnegie wrote letters of introduction to people like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone. Carnegie opened the doors for Hill to begin his quest to reveal these secrets to the masses.
Fast forward 100 years…
Greg Reid was sought out by the Napoleon Hill foundation to modern day successes and reveal their formula. But this time would be a little different. Rather than just go right to the “Forbes 400” list Greg sought out people who faced enormous adversity and overcame it. He talked to people who didn’t quit. Which leads me to “Three Feet From Gold.”
The Story…
A young man who went west during the Gold Rush, R. U Darby, was determined to discover his fortune in gold. He staked his claim, and discovered high quality ore very quickly. With funding from family and friends, he started mining his discovery with early success and then one day the gold simply ran out. After weeks of finding no more gold, R. U. Darby grew exceedingly more frustrated and finally gave up. He sold his mine and equipment to a Junk-man in town. He returned east totally defeated and broke.
The Junk-man had nothing. But he had been studying gold-mining for 20 years – waiting for this opportunity. He hired the right adviser. He brought in a gold mining engineer to study the mine. The engineer told him that Darby had simply punched right through the vein of gold. All the Junk-man had to do was to go back to the beginning, to the place of the original discovery of gold, move three feet in the other direction and he would tap back into the vein. That is exactly what the Junk-man did and he discovered a great fortune in gold!
There are so many lessons in the above story. When I spent the time interviewing Greg he shared many of them. But the one that is so important is the fact that the Junk-man understood he didn’t have all the answers. He knew bringing in the right person with the right knowledge was key. Greg and I discussed this during the interview. Then he told me something that is overly simple, yet often overlooked; “Just ask! The only dumb question is the one you don’t ask!”

One of the many fun aspects of what I do for my clients and subscribers is to interview other authors who have great messages to share. Recently I spoke with Greg Reid. Greg’s newest book is called “Think & Grow Rich, 3 Feet From Gold.” Let me give you a little back drop…

The original “Think & Grow Rich,” was written by Napoleon Hill in the early part of the twentieth century. It’s a personal development classic that has been read by anyone serious about achieving more in their lives. Andrew Carnegie was the richest man in the world at the time. He saw in Napoleon Hill something that Hill didn’t see in himself. Carnegie wanted to document the laws of success. He wanted to share with the world what he and other successful business people knew to be a winning formula. Carnegie wrote letters of introduction to people like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone. Carnegie opened the doors for Hill to begin his quest to reveal these secrets to the masses.

Fast forward 100 years…

Greg Reid was sought out by the Napoleon Hill foundation to modern day successes and reveal their formula. But this time would be a little different. Rather than just go right to the “Forbes 400” list Greg sought out people who faced enormous adversity and overcame it. He talked to people who didn’t quit. Which leads me to “Three Feet From Gold.”

The Story…

A young man who went west during the Gold Rush, R. U Darby, was determined to discover his fortune in gold. He staked his claim, and discovered high quality ore very quickly. With funding from family and friends, he started mining his discovery with early success and then one day the gold simply ran out. After weeks of finding no more gold, R. U. Darby grew exceedingly more frustrated and finally gave up. He sold his mine and equipment to a Junk-man in town. He returned east totally defeated and broke.

The Junk-man had nothing. But he had been studying gold-mining for 20 years – waiting for this opportunity. He hired the right adviser. He brought in a gold mining engineer to study the mine. The engineer told him that Darby had simply punched right through the vein of gold. All the Junk-man had to do was to go back to the beginning, to the place of the original discovery of gold, move three feet in the other direction and he would tap back into the vein. That is exactly what the Junk-man did and he discovered a great fortune in gold!

There are so many lessons in the above story. When I spent the time interviewing Greg he shared many of them. But the one that is so important is the fact that the Junk-man understood he didn’t have all the answers. He knew bringing in the right person with the right knowledge was key. Greg and I discussed this during the interview. Then he told me something that is overly simple, yet often overlooked; “Just ask! The only dumb question is the one you don’t ask!”

article spinner applications precisely for the blogger.

Comments Closed