There are stupid questions, just not that kind of stupid

You are told that smart people ask a lot of questions. Indeed, people who seem to be successful do tend to ask a lot of questions.

Yes, but: most of those people that I’ve encountered in corporate environments are in positions of power: they can ask questions and get other people to give them answers.

In a large company, there are many stupid questions. But not stupid because the question is dumb, but stupid because it creates more work and reputation loss for the questioner. A “stupid” question can result in lose of power and value to the large organization. It can damage your stability and rewards.

As an underling, you learn two things: don’t ask questions that you don’t know the answer to, and the one who asks the question upward is often asked to work on the answer in addition to their assigned work. That is, you are giving yourself extra homework.

Asking questions in a big co is risky. It’s more like a gamble that the house usually wins.

However, I am realizing that this has had a negative affect on my learning. I should ask clarifying questions more: what is the thinking behind this new idea? How can I help? How does it work? Learning questions are fine, but questions how things work is risky.

Also, I should ask people outside of the BigCo more questions. There is no risk of assigning myself homework there: if someone answers, I just get new information, and maybe meet someone new!