Ask the Questions No One Else Is Asking
Using the Shift Matrix to Build Insight as a Strategic Superpower
The best executives don’t always have the answers. But they almost always have the questions that unlock them. In the Shift Matrix, Insight is where emotional intelligence, organizational awareness, and intuition converge. It’s less about IQ and more about EQ—and the courage to confront what’s unspoken. You don’t need to be a therapist. But you do need to be awake.
The Executive as Empath
Great execs can read a room. Not just who’s talking, but who’s quiet. Not just what’s being said, but what’s being avoided. It’s like a doctor with a stethoscope, they must listen to the thing that is not always noticeable and use the right tools to do it.
They don’t just push for deliverables. They ask things like:
- “What’s the tension we’re not naming here?”
- “Who’s being affected by this decision and isn’t at this table?”
- “What’s behind that missed deadline—really?”
This is the difference between leading a team and leading humans.
“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems.”
—Epictetus
Insightful executives know the real issue isn’t always the one in the slide deck.
Physician Energy: Listen for the Irregular Heartbeat
Again consider a physician. In the quietness of the stethoscope they hear and begin to diagnose the possible health risks.
When there is an irregular heartbeat, something is off and must be addressed.
Executives are the physicians.
They don’t just hear irregularity. They affirm health and investigate possible risks.
Insight means noticing when tension is rising, when silos are forming, when alignment is drifting.
Then asking: “What am I hearing?”
The Bottom Line
Don’t just measure progress. Feel the pulse.
The right question, asked at the right time, can shift a team faster than a dozen metrics.
Insight doesn’t always show up in a dashboard.
But without it, the rest of the data won’t matter.
