Episode Overview

Podcast: The Brainy Business
Host: Melina Palmer
Episode: 550 – The Power of Questions: Avoiding the Biggest Mistake in Business
Date: November 18, 2025

To celebrate a major milestone—episode 550—Melina Palmer revisits one of her favorite foundational lessons: the importance of asking the right questions in business. She argues that most companies make their biggest mistake by looking for answers too soon—jumping into solutions before truly defining and understanding the underlying problem. Using case studies from the world of behavioral economics, Melina demonstrates how reframing the problem and thoughtfully questioning assumptions can unlock dramatically better results, making behavioral change easier and business strategies more effective.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Why Most Businesses Get It Wrong

• The Core Mistake: Leaders rush to solutions, fixing the first problem they see rather than understanding what truly needs to change (03:00–04:10).
• Effort Wasted: Without a well-defined problem, resources—time, money, people—are wasted on the wrong solutions.

  “It’s really easy to find the right answer to the wrong question... you end up putting a lot of effort, time, money, and other resources into fixing something that isn’t actually at the root of the behavior.”
  — Melina Palmer (03:46)

The Brain’s Shortcuts and Biases

• Perception of Change: The belief that "change is hard" is often just a focusing illusion or confirmation bias at work (04:40–05:15).
• Brain Processing: The subconscious brain processes 11 million bits of information per second, but our conscious mind only handles 40 bits—most data is filtered out based on existing beliefs (04:40–05:00).

The Power of Questions

• Einstein’s Approach: The legendary quote about spending 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes solving it illustrates the need for deep questioning (05:20–05:45).
• Question Storming: Melina recommends actively brainstorming questions, not just solutions, because great questions are “amazingly powerful, and in general, people don’t spend enough time asking questions.” (05:05–06:02)

Behavioral Economics in Action: Real-World Examples

1. The “Literary” Litter Lottery (07:47–11:55)

• The Challenge: Decades of logical messaging (“reduce, reuse, recycle!”) failed to change entrenched littering habits, especially in places like movie theaters.
• The Breakthrough: Incentivizing correct behavior with a lottery—garbage cans that gave out lottery tickets for properly sorted trash.
• Results: 100% compliance in the trial—people rushed to pick up and sort trash, hunting for more items to throw away (10:26–10:56).
• Key Lesson:

  “Change doesn’t have to be hard... Understanding them and working with those habits can make it so seemingly insurmountable changes... become easy.”
  — Melina Palmer (11:20)

2. Encouraging Mask Use During the Pandemic (12:20–13:35)

• Typical Solution: Logical arguments or threats of fines.
• Behavioral Twist: Introduce random rewards for people following guidelines (e.g., winning a drawing for wearing a mask).
• Outcome: Makes compliance fun and desirable, aligning incentives with natural human motivation.

3. The “Brochure” Paradox in Marketing (14:13–16:40)

• Situation: Departments request “a brochure,” often just using the term as a stand-in for “help.”
• Melina’s Approach: Responds with curiosity—“Tell me more. What are you trying to accomplish?”
• Result: Better tailored solutions, greater team involvement (see the IKEA effect), and much less wasted effort.
• Crucial Framing:

  “Being curious and asking good questions allowed me to appeal to the subconscious brain so I could learn about the situation while helping that person feel valued and involved in the process.”
  — Melina Palmer (15:55)

4. Apple Card’s “No Fees” Strategy (18:00–19:00)

• Insight: Customers hate fees more than higher interest rates.
• Solution: Reframe revenue by removing fees (adjust the interest rate if needed), improving satisfaction without real profitability loss.

5. Shapa: The Scale with No Numbers (20:00–21:00)

• Innovation: Removing numbers from bathroom scales.
• Behavioral Reasoning: Frequent weight fluctuations demotivate healthy behaviors; focusing away from numbers encourages better habits.

The “Recipe” Metaphor for Business Change

• Just like baking, understanding the purpose of each ingredient (behavioral science concept) before combining them leads to better outcomes (21:00–22:00).
• If you don’t define what you want to “bake” (the business goal/problem), the result will be a “dreadful mess.”

Practical Takeaways & Application

• Challenge Assumptions: Question if “known truths” (like “change is hard”) might actually be incorrect (22:02–23:00).
• Cultivate the Skill of Questioning:

  “Great work begins not with an answer, but with a better question.”
  — Melina Palmer (23:40)

• Daily Practice: Spend the next month challenging one known belief or problem a day—ask, “What if this wasn’t correct?” or “How might I change this for the better?”
• Long-term Benefit: Deeper understanding, better business results, and a personalized approach to problem-solving.

Notable Quotes

• On Solutions:

  “It’s way too easy to find the right answer to the wrong question.”
  — Melina Palmer (03:46, 23:40)

• On Questioning:

  “If you have one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and then 5 minutes solving it.”
  — Attributed to Albert Einstein, cited by Melina Palmer (05:20)

• On Brain Limitations:

  “The ratio of 11 million to 40 means that for every piece of information the brain lets through, 275,000 other things were filtered out.”
  — Melina Palmer (04:40)

• On Change:

  “Change doesn’t have to be hard... working with those habits can make it so seemingly insurmountable changes... become easy.”
  — Melina Palmer (11:20)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:00–04:10 – The most common business mistake: jumping to solutions
• 04:40–05:00 – Brain processing limits and why perception matters
• 05:20–05:45 – Einstein’s problem-solving principle
• 07:47–11:55 – The “Literary” lottery and behavioral science in action
• 14:13–16:40 – The “brochure” paradox and asking better questions internally
• 18:00–19:00 – Apple Card: The power of removing fees
• 21:00–22:00 – The recipe metaphor: Why defining the problem matters
• 23:40–End – Action steps: How to develop questioning as a skill

Summary & Reflection

Melina emphasizes that asking better questions is a superpower in business—often the difference between mediocrity and transformation. Leaders should resist the urge to immediately “fix” and instead spend deliberate time defining the problem, challenging assumptions, and aligning solutions with how people’s brains actually work. Success comes not from always having the answers, but from cultivating the discipline and curiosity to ask “Why?” and “What if?” first.

Final Call to Action:
“Before your next big initiative... ask yourself, ‘Have I asked enough questions to truly define and understand the problem, or did I just jump to a solution?’ That simple reflection can save enormous amounts of time, money and frustration down the line.” (24:50)