The Answer is 42

Sometimes, it’s not explicitly asked and sometimes it is, but I’ve lost count the number of times when working with clients I hear “so, what’s the answer?”. I confess that most times I’ve had to bite my tongue to stop lashing out with a cynical and stern reply of “42″, or “what’s the question?”

In most cases consultants or facilitators are called in to help organisations to solve a problem(s). They often do so in the hope that someone ‘external’ will have the right information and is able to give them the right answer. The old ’silver bullet’. Invariably, this approach isn’t very effective. That’s because it’s a cop out. It’s too easy to put someone on a pedestal — a guru who says that the answer is in this or that.

In the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy a giant computer is able to calculate the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything. The answer was 42. Easy. But this answer is on its own is meaningless. What was needed was a proper question.

It seems that some people are reluctant to take a more holistic approach where they ask questions, explore, and make their own meaning through dialogue and the stories they tell both themselves and others. Why is this?

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