If buyers directly asked about any potential issues (“The iPod doesn’t have any problems, does it?”), some sellers were relatively forthcoming. Around 60 percent of them fessed up and noted that the iPod had a history of crashing.

Questions like “What problems does it have?” do exactly that. Rather than implicitly assuming no issues, they assume there are some and want to root them out.

The more aversion there is to revealing certain information, the more important it becomes to ask questions that avoid making (positive) assumptions. Avoid presuming the absence of an issue.

The same goes when trying to get audiences to speak up. When making presentations or teaching complicated ideas, people often say things like “You don’t have any questions, do you?” But swapping that out for “What questions do you have?” will encourage more people to follow up if they don’t understand.

When something bad occurs, ask yourself three questions—and come up with an intelligent way to answer each one “no”:

1. Is this permanent?

…

2. Is this pervasive?

…

3. Is this personal?