The Socratic Method

Socrates, Greek philosopher, born Athens, about 470 BC, died Athens, 399 BC.

Socrates in his discussions pretended a disarming ignorance (Socratic irony) and then by shrewd questioning forced his listeners, disciples, and opponents to admit their own ignorance and the wrongness of their casually accepted intuitions. He was the gadfly of Athens, and no less an institution whom the oracle at Delphi proclaimed to the wisest of the Greeks. (to which Socrates replied that if he were the wisest it was only because he alone knew that he knew nothing).

Today's practitioners of the Socratic method have moved from ridicule to constructive use of the technique. You, as project leader will encounter a never-ending challenge of people unwilling to change or to accept the new corporate culture, or change. Even though you carry with you the invisible sword of authority from the boss you must never use it. But everybody knows you carry that sword. So you use it in a different way: You share the corporate vision, the importance of the mission, and then you ask how they can contribute to this change. You continue asking, as though you were the dumbest person in the world, until you hear what you want to hear. Ergo, the power of the inventor has been brought to bear on what could have been an impossible brick wall.

There is no greater force on the face of the earth than the power of the inventor. When you get your collaborators to come up with the ideas that you need to hear, then give them the green light through the power vested in the project, you have mastered the tools for successful project implementation.