Inquiry-Driven Leadership focuses on a question-based approach to challenges, enabling you to become both a creative problem-finder and solver by gaining the tools to ask better questions.
Hal Gregersen, the executive director of the MIT Leadership Center, said: “Great questions have a catalytic quality — that is, they dissolve barriers to creative thinking and channel the pursuit of solutions into new, accelerated pathways.” When problem-solving, the emphasis far too often falls on finding a single correct answer. However, the power of a great question has the potential to ignite a type of innovative thinking that is essential to our globalized, digitized, and disruptive world.
Based on the in-person course, Questions Are the Answer: A Creative Approach to AI-Enhanced Inquiry, Insight, and Impact , Inquiry-Driven Leadership focuses on a question-based approach to challenges, enabling you to become both a creative problem-finder and solver by gaining the tools to ask better questions. In exploring the conditions and behavioral habits that facilitate productive inquiry, you’ll learn to identify, frame, and solve problems in your own leadership context. You’ll discover how catalytic, or breakthrough questions, can foster transformative change, shift behaviors and beliefs, and generate individual and organizational value.
Welcome to your Online Campus
Appreciating the Power of Catalytic Questioning
Creating the Conditions for Questions to Flourish
Building the Habits of Productive Inquiry
Understanding and Working Through the Barriers to Inquiry
Building the Questioning Capacity of a Team or Organization
Changing the World by Changing Questions
Upon successful completion of your course, you will earn a certificate of completion from the MIT Sloan School of Management. This course may also count toward
MIT Sloan Executive Certificate requirements
.
Drawing on lessons from CEOs and innovators who have disrupted and transformed their industries by asking the right questions, you’ll learn to create the conditions that stimulate productive inquiry and drive innovation. As you recognize and navigate the barriers that constrain creative energy, you’ll understand how questions can drive profound change and begin to practice the habits that reinforce continuous questioning. Guided by MIT Sloan faculty, you’ll develop your problem-finding and solving strengths and gain the skills to cultivate a culture of inquiry within yourself, your teams, and your organization.
This program has been specifically designed for those responsible for solving business problems, such as senior business leaders and middle managers. Consultants, strategists, marketing, innovation and operations professionals who aim to make progress on real business challenges also stand to benefit from the productive tools taught in this program. Across functions and industries, professionals will gain an understanding of why a question-based approach is becoming increasingly relevant in today’s context of uncertainty and disruption.
This course is delivered in our Self-Paced Online format which enables you to participate at your own pace within weekly modules. This course runs over 6 weeks with an estimated 6-8 hours per week of study time
Earn a certificate of course completion from the MIT Sloan School of Management
You will learn through a variety of formats including interactive videos, practice quizzes, presentations, assignments, and discussion forums
You will have access to a Success Adviser who will help you manage your time, and support you with any administrative or technical queries you might have
"I would rate this course at 95%, if given the opportunity. It has significantly enhanced the way I engage in discussions, contribute ideas, and consider the perspectives of others. One of the greatest lessons I have taken away is the importance of showing respect by genuinely listening and valuing different viewpoints during conversations. The course also emphasized the importance of patience, both with oneself and with others. Professionally, this has been particularly valuable, as participating in discussions forms a substantial part of my role. I would estimate that nearly 60% of my responsibilities involve engaging with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders. The principles taught in the course, such as active listening, pausing to reflect before responding, and seeking to understand before being understood, have strengthened my ability to contribute meaningfully and thoughtfully in these interactions. The learnings have helped me appreciate the value of understanding another persons perspective before offering a response or opinion. This approach has improved the quality of my engagements and enabled more constructive and collaborative conversations. We never stop learning, and this course has been one of those transformative experiences that prompted an important shift in my thinking and behaviour. It has provided a meaningful opportunity for personal and professional growth, and I believe the lessons I have gained will continue to benefit me throughout my career and beyond."
Nomvula Angeline M
"This course offers several tools to improve your leadership, not only in the company environment but in your personal life, too. I was personally impacted by how we can use questions to enable others on the team to lead and improve the quality of their answers while creating a psychologically safe environment. This training should be mandatory for all leaders."
Andre G
"i like it ."
Najat A
"Hal does a great job bringing in the concepts and the lens or the framing around what you are to take away from the course, develop the conditions that are ripe for questioning, and some practices to get you to the innovative question, but the work is on the individual to be fully committed to practice what he is lecturing on. Even beyond the scope of the class. There is no one way secret to tell people how to ask better questions, but this course does a great job asking you ways to critically think (or even sensemaking) to build the environment around you to ask compelling questions. I do strongly encourage those with detailed oriented, engineering logic brain thinking, to come into the course with an open and creative mind."
Zachary G
"This was a great opportunity to continue my journey of Self Development. A key focus for me has been to learn How can I increase the quality of my questions? I am very grateful of this opportunity, to continue my journey, now with more insights on how can I continue to improve. I liked a lot the Inquiry-Driven Leadership courses as it was a great step forward."
Emilio A
"So called soft skills have become hard skills of the future. This became even more important with the AI acceleration. The art of communication, especially the art of asking the the questions, make the world of a difference for any leader. I was quite good at using the questions as a strategic tool (some people even labeled this skill as an excellent one). Yet, I have learnt so much more during this course. I highly recommend the course even to the experienced leaders."
Ivana S
"An excellent course to reset your focus and direction towards deep problem solving, not only in your day to living but at every stage of your career. The unprecedented openness of the lecturers and their passion for the subject is contagious. I will recommend the course for everybody who just wants to do a raincheck on their problem-solving skills, teamwork, and definitely self-development."
Kobus T
"The Inquiry-Driven Leadership course at MIT Sloan has been an exceptional learning experience. The curriculum is thoughtfully designed to foster both critical thinking and practical leadership skills. What stood out the most was the emphasis on catalytic questioninga powerful tool that helps reframe problems in ways that lead to breakthrough solutions. This approach not only equips leaders with new perspectives but also empowers teams to engage more deeply in innovative thinking. The course structure encourages hands-on application, from interactive exercises like the question burst method to reflective exercises that challenge your current leadership habits. I found the lessons on creating a psychologically safe environment for inquiry particularly valuable. These lessons provided actionable insights on how to build trust within a team and cultivate an open environment where tough questions can be asked without fear. The instructors were not only knowledgeable but also engaging, drawing from a wealth of academic research and real-world leadership experiences. Their ability to connect theory with practice made each session relevant to real-life leadership challenges, and their enthusiasm inspired continuous engagement from participants. Overall, this course helped me significantly improve my leadership approach. It deepened my understanding of how to guide teams through uncertainty and innovation, and it provided invaluable tools for fostering a culture of inquiry that leads to sustained growth and improvement. Highly recommend this course to anyone looking to enhance their leadership skills in a fast-evolving and complex world!"
Harrison Y
"My perspective at looking things changed for the positive side. This is a wonderful course. One suggestion is to check the possibility to award the degree in-person in MIT, which will be a life-time memory for all who could make it."
RAMSUNDAR R
"A great mix of video, reading, and writing exercises to learn and develop the skill of asking better (catalytic) questions."
Sebastian R
Same topic, Similar duration - Broader exploration across all institutes
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Executive Education Office
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