It's the question that drives us

As Trinity whispered urgently to Neo in The Matrix, "It's the question that drives us." It's generally accepted amongst free thinkers that it's a good thing to ask questions. And thank Morpheus, your lucky stars, or whichever celestial body takes your fancy. Even so, I wish that people would put a bit more thought into the questions they ask.

Questions are important. Questions warrant consideration. The better the question, the more informative the answer. The more open the question, often, the more surprising the answer.

While promoting their Grindhouse films, Tarantino and Rodriguez participated in a Q&A session, included as an extra DVD feature on Rodriguez's Planet Terror. A film student asked how the directors felt about the changing competitive landscape in film, with the proliferation of directors and productions, and whether that made it more difficult to succeed today.

Tarantino, as ever, fraught with nerdy excitement, jumped in. Yes, there's more competition, he said, but if you create something brilliant, your Reservoir Dogs, then the competition is entirely irrelevant.

Now, that's some answer. One that's equally applicable to businesses and brands as films. Instead of constantly benchmarking against the competition, focus on doing something great yourself and render the competition irrelevant. It's the basic premise behind Kim and Mauborgne's book Blue Ocean Strategy.

Ask away, by all means. Try to ask the right questions of the right people and get some answers that you haven't anticipated.