Photo by Alex Haney on Unsplash

There are two attractions every tourist wants to see when they visit Seattle.

The first one is the Space Needle.
Duh.

The second one is Pike Place Market (NOT “Pike’s Place Market,” please!)

(For the record, parking is impossible at each of these landmarks.)

And I get why people want to visit the market.

It’s cool. Lots to see and do: craftspeople, fish vendors, restaurants, a magic store.

Some years ago, one of the fish vendors (there are several) at the market wasn’t doing well. In fact, they were on the brink of bankruptcy.

So they had a meeting of the entire staff, which probably comprised maybe eight or ten people. And they started asking questions:

• How can we avoid bankruptcy?

• How can we bring in more customers?

• What if we put the fish on sale?

Typical questions. Obvious questions. The type of questions you or I might ask in similar circumstances.

And they were coming up with typical answers. Obvious answers.

Answers that weren’t moving the needle.

But then…

…their newest employee—a 16-year-old part-timer—popped his head up and asked a different question. A bigger question.

An outlandish question.

“How can we become world-famous?”

You can feel the difference, can’t you?

The difference between “What if we put the fish on sale?” and “How can we become world-famous?”

Two VERY different questions.

In fact, the second one is not just a different question, it’s a different magnitude of question.

It changes the entire context of the conversation, doesn’t it?

It completely re-frames the situation.

And opens up possibilities that don’t exist within the frame of the smaller question.

You can’t answer “How can we become world-famous?” with the same thinking you’d use for “What if we put the fish on sale?”

It’s a question that not only moves the needle; it changes the game.

And they did it.

They became world famous.

You’ve probably seen them. Either in-person or on video. Or you’ve read the book. Or you’ve done the training.

They’re the guys who throw the fish.

People travel thousands of miles to see them.

In fact, THEY are the reason everyone wants to visit Pike Place Market! To see the guys from Pike Place Fish throw the damn fish!

Here’s the takeaway: You’ll never get a million-dollar answer by asking five-dollar questions.

If you need a million-dollar idea,
ask a million-dollar question.