While running Netek, my affective computing startup, I hired some college students as summer interns. After just one week, I handed each of them a sticky note and asked them to write down 3-5 things they thought we should stop doing and explain why.

Initially, they were stunned. These students had joined the team expecting mentorship from me, not to critique the company’s operations. How could I expect newcomers with limited experience to challenge our established methods?

But that was precisely my intention.

Innovation thrives when we continuously question the status quo. In startups, especially, you’re constantly navigating uncharted territory. Fresh perspectives—especially from individuals new to your processes—are incredibly valuable. They aren’t burdened by legacy thinking or entrenched habits. The interns were perfectly positioned to see what we, too close to the daily grind, might overlook.

Once the initial surprise wore off, the interns realized I was serious. Questioning how we did things wasn’t an occasional exercise—it was a fundamental practice embedded in our culture at Netek. This approach had several key benefits:

1. Identifying hidden inefficiencies: By inviting everyone to challenge existing processes, we surfaced bottlenecks and unnecessary complexities that had previously gone unnoticed.
2. Fostering a culture of innovation: Encouraging team members at all levels to question the status quo established an environment where creativity and innovation flourished. Ideas flowed freely because everyone felt empowered to speak up.
3. Accelerating learning and adaptation: Constantly revisiting assumptions meant we adapted faster and learned more quickly from experiments, giving us a significant competitive advantage.
4. Building trust and empowerment: By actively seeking input and demonstrating genuine openness to change, our team felt valued, heard, and trusted. This boosted morale, engagement, and retention.

Why Questioning Matters

In the fast-paced world of startups and innovation, complacency is the enemy of progress. When team members feel empowered to question established processes and assumptions, magic happens. At Netek, we discovered that challenging the status quo led to breakthrough moments that wouldn’t have occurred in a more traditional hierarchical environment.
The benefits weren’t just theoretical—they manifested in tangible ways:

1. Fresh perspectives drive innovation. Eventually, those college interns provided insights that led to a complete redesign of our user onboarding process. Their questions about why we required so many steps before users could experience our core value proposition led to a 40% increase in user retention. Sometimes, it takes someone unfamiliar with industry “best practices” to see the flaws in our assumptions.
2. Team ownership increases. When team members know their critiques are tolerated and encouraged, they develop a more profound sense of ownership. At Netek, we found that team members who regularly questioned processes were also more likely to propose solutions and take the initiative to implement them.
3. Adaptability becomes cultural. In today’s rapidly changing business environment, organizations that can pivot quickly have a significant advantage. By normalizing questioning at all levels, we built adaptability into our DNA. When market conditions shifted, our team didn’t wait for top-down directives—they were already identifying potential issues and proposing adjustments.

Creating a Questioning Culture

Building this kind of environment doesn’t happen by accident. Here’s what worked for us:

Make it Safe

The first few times I asked for critique, responses were hesitant and surface-level. People needed to see that questioning wouldn’t lead to punishment or dismissal. When those initial brave suggestions were met with genuine appreciation and consideration, psychological safety began to develop.

Reward the Challengers

We made a point to publicly recognize valuable questions, even when they made us uncomfortable. During team meetings, I would highlight instances where questioning led to improvements: “Remember when Alex questioned our pricing model? That conversation led directly to our current strategy, which has increased conversion by 15%.”

Question Your Ideas First

Leaders must model the behavior they wish to see. I made it a practice to question my assumptions and decisions openly. I would outline my thinking when introducing new initiatives and then explicitly ask, “What am I missing here? Where might this approach fail?”

The Hard Truth About Questioning Cultures

While the benefits are significant, creating a questioning culture isn’t always comfortable. You’ll face challenges:

Some People Won’t Adapt

Not everyone thrives in an environment where constant questioning is encouraged. At Netek, we had team members who preferred more certainty and direction. Some adapted over time; others eventually found positions elsewhere that better matched their working style.

Questions Can Slow Initial Progress

When everything is open to questioning, decision-making can sometimes take longer. We had to find the balance between healthy questioning and analysis paralysis. Setting clear parameters around which decisions were open for debate and which needed to be accepted (at least temporarily) helped maintain momentum.

It Requires Genuine Humility

As a founder, it’s not easy to hear that your cherished processes might be inefficient or that your product vision has blind spots. The questioning culture only works when leaders genuinely believe they don’t have all the answers.

The Ultimate Competitive Advantage

Despite these challenges, building a team that questions the status quo has been one of my most valuable leadership strategies. In a business landscape where disruption is constant, the organizations that survive aren’t necessarily the ones with the most resources or the best initial ideas. The winners can question, adapt, and evolve faster than their competition.

Bringing in people with no experience, zero-gravity thinkers should be used to see your business with fresh eyes because the best insights come from those with the least investment in “how things have always been done.” By creating an environment where everyone—from interns to executives—feels empowered to question, you’re building more than just a culture; you’re developing a sustainable competitive advantage.

What aspects of your organization’s status quo might benefit from healthy questioning?

Bottom line: Questioning is an innovation superpower. By encouraging our team—and even our interns—to question established norms, we didn’t just challenge the status quo. We created a dynamic organization that thrived on fresh ideas and continuous improvement.