from the chair
Opportunity Washington: It’s Time for Action
Mike Schwenk
In the winter issue of Washington Business, I shared
with you the advent of Opportunity Washington, officially
launched at the Legislative Summit in January. In that
same issue, Dick Davis shared some of the details behind
the plan. We are now ready to move from the “ready…
aim” phase, to “fire” — we are shifting gears from plan
to action.
While this is being written, we are in the midst of
the legislative session and all the day-to-day scrambling
associated with that process. It can be distracting. Yet
it is important that we keep our heads up and our eyes
focused on tomorrow.
So where do we begin? How do we get started moving
to “execution?”
I recently came across a marvelous resource to help
guide our way. The beauty of this resource is in its
simplicity. It is a book by Warren Berger titled “A More
Beautiful Question,” subtitled “The Power of Inquiry to
Spark Breakthrough Ideas.” I recommend this book to all
of you. At a minimum, just read the introduction. It alone
has the power to affect your lives, your families and your
businesses. Importantly, it also has the power to affect
14 association of washington business
nonprofits like AWB, and its ACE partners. And it holds
the key to making Opportunity Washington a positive,
powerful force for guiding our state.
The underlying premise of the book is simple: Asking
questions leads to problem-solving. But it isn’t quite
as simple as just asking questions. It is asking the right
questions. How many times have we been in meetings,
even in hearings testifying, only to walk away saying,
“They didn’t even ask the right questions?”
The book points out, through case history, that asking
the right questions leads to innovation and remarkable
transformation. Rather than stifle, the right questions
enable! Indeed, the author shares the source of the title
of his book from E.E. Cummings, who wrote, “Always
the beautiful answer / who asks the beautiful question.”
The author then provides his own definition: “A beautiful
question is an ambitious yet actionable question that
can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about
something — and that might serve as a catalyst to bring
about change.”
Does that not fit the bill for Opportunity Washington?
The business community can ask the right questions. We
are action-oriented. We can get out-of-the-box. We are
not politically constrained. And we do want change.
So this is where we will start. We will begin by asking
the right questions.
It starts with the most obvious of all: Why are we repairing
bridges today the way we have for the last century? Only to
do it over and over again, at more cost each time?
This will be fun. It will be energizing. And it will lead to
new answers to old, seemingly intransigent, problems.
Many accuse AWB specifically, and thus the business
community generally, of being all about saying “no.”
Really? Is that what we are about? Or are we about saying
“no” to the wrong questions and thus wrong-headed
“solutions” that we know won’t work — because they have
been proven not to work.
Those kinds of questions don’t deserve our attention, much less our affirmation. We would much rather
be about saying “yes” to the right-headed, thoughtful,
forward-thinking kinds of inquiries that will affect the
change we seek for a better Washington for all Washingtonians. Fire!