I was updating my profile on Linked In and saw that someone in my network was looking for ways to ask the right questions to get to what a person needed for success.
These questions weren't for trying to determine what the generic "you" needed (i.e. a broad-based answer that would work for the great masses), but were questions to ask someone when you were trying to determine what that individual needed on a personal level.
So here's my answer...
IMO, the best questions are...
What do you like best about yourself?
What do others like best about you? (have them actually ask people this question... they might be surprised by the answers)
If you could do anything and didn't have to worry about money, what would you do?
You ask those three questions and you have the answers to what you could do to help them succeed.
If you ask them "what do you need", you'll get answers like "business contacts", "help growing my business", etc. But there's no one way to help people get those. There are 85,000 ways.
Until you know them, you don't know the strengths you can build on, you don't know what makes them happy, you can't select the small subset of those 85,000 things that will truly work best for that person.
If you want to find out what someone REALLY needs, ask those three questions. The answers will help identify strengths, skills, and goals that you can help them build on to succeed, whether it's moving forward on the path they're on or identifying a better path.
Everyone wants to succeed, maybe even needs it, but how they achieve success and what's going to make them *feel* successful are things you'll best identify by getting to know them.
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