Design
Removing is designing
When designing, ask not what you can add, but what you can take away.
Some of the most successful companies flourish not because they offer anything new, but because they removed painful steps.
Like how Monzo removed walking to the bank on your lunch break.
Facilitation
Ask, “what else?”
A mistake novice facilitators make is asking questions that invite a yes/no answer when trying to get a range of answers.
Instead of asking “anymore?”, ask “what else?”.
Resist the temptation to fill the silence. Don’t deviate. Repeat: “what else”?
Storytelling
Withhold information
How does a great storyteller keep you hooked?
They don’t give you the full answer. Instead, they raise a question or leave an obvious gap.
Engineer your story to periodically make your listener ask “then what?” and you‘ll hold their attention indefinitely.