In this interview, Susan Bennett tells us what it was like to be the original voice of the iPhone assistant, “Siri” … her fear-busting “ask” that changed everything … her experience as a backup singer for Burt Bacharach … and her thoughts on the "happy accident" of...
Big Ask Blog
All about the importance, power, and skill of asking
Asking for Shoes: Intel’s Brian Little
Brian Little is vice president and global head of corporate human resources for Intel. He previously served in senior human resources roles at companies including Ameritech, Amoco, and Zurich Insurance, and was recognized in 2017 by the industry magazine HRO...
Holocaust Memory: The Ask That Changed Everything
In her earliest memory of life in Poland, Ida Paluch was three years old when she, her twin brother, Adam, and older sister, Gienia, witnessed a woman, mad with fear, jump from a building to her death to escape forced relocation and inevitable murder by the Nazis. The...
The Agent Who Busted Bombers
Could a single question get a bomber to confess? Could "playing dumb" catch an arsonist? What happens when you ask for the truth from powerful people who don't want to answer truthfully? Cynthia Beebe is a retired Senior Special Agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol,...
When Leaders Ask for Feedback
After a morning coaching several McDonald’s presenters for a company-wide conference, I left the rehearsal room to grab some lunch. On my way back, an admin staffer informed me that Paul Schrage, then McDonald’s senior executive vice president and chief marketing...
A Gift of Cranes
Suffering the effects of a major illness can feel scary and isolating. Getting through it takes not only medical assistance but emotional support. In the story that follows, my friend David Fisk tells of four "asks" that loved ones made on his behalf during a health...
Safe to Ask? A Chat with a Chief Nursing Officer
Charity Cox-Hayden is chief nursing officer for Atlas Healthcare Partners, LLC, an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) development and management company headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona with surgery centers in Phoenix, Tucson, and Northern Colorado. She and I recently...
Dinosaurs in the Shark Tank: Don and Val’s Big Ask
In September 2020, Don Lessem and Valerie Jones drove from their home in Philadelphia to Las Vegas, where they walked onto the famously intimidating set of ABC’s Shark Tank to ask $500,000 for a 10% stake in Dino Don Inc., their $1.8M animatronic dinosaur...
From Red Carpet to Runway: Hollywood’s Janet Nepales
Award-winning journalist Janet Susan R. Nepales is the first Filipina member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) which votes on and presents the annual Golden Globe Awards. She was an executive co-producer of the Golden Globe Awards show (75th to...
Cynthia Barnes: Becoming 2x Confident, 2x Strong
In this interview, award-winning sales influencer Cynthia Barnes shares her solid tips and strategies for asking for raises, referrals, and feedback, as well as her insights on why claiming your self-worth is like putting money in the bank. Though her professional...