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Audio Interview

Nurturing the ability to ask impactful questions

Published on April 30, 2025   13 min

A selection of talks on Management, Leadership & Organisation

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Interviewer: Today I'm interviewing Professor Robert Langer on the subject of developing the ability to ask meaningful questions. Professor Langer is the WH Koch Institute Professor at MIT. He's received hundreds of awards. A link to his professional biography accompanies this interview. Professor Langer has written, "The future will be determined by the students and the scientists of tomorrow. As I come to realize, in school one is judged by how well one answers questions, but in real life, we're judged by the questions we ask. One of my goals is to try to help my students cross the bridge from being researchers who can give good answers to those who can also ask good questions. Professor Langer, thank you for sparing the time. My opening question is obvious: How do you do what you say you do? How do you take your students over the bridge? Prof. Langer: Well, I think at least what I try to do is both by example and in terms of the questions that I've tried to ask and in terms of shaping a general area and I could give some examples to say well, what do you think and what would you like, say your proposal or your thesis to be? But then I try to act as a guide to help them think about it,

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