My attempt to grapple with an annoying piece of business jargon — the ask — has turned into a regular topic. In posts on asking, I’ve touched on the difference between asking and commanding, looked at connections between language and power, written about listening, respect and the exercise of non-coercive leadership, and developed a position on what makes a conversation serious. Cooperation has emerged as an overarching theme.

Here are my posts on the topic, to date.

Ask Is A Verb
Maddening Jargon, Jargon Madness: Another Note on “The Ask”
Asking Isn’t An Art
Henry Hitchings and the Patron Saint of Asking
Everybody’s A Beginner
A Follow-Up to Hitchings’ Follow-Up Post on “The Ask”
Margaret Thatcher and the Power of Asking
What Do Women Want? What They’re Asking For
Some Thoughts On Gilshan and Jackson’s Call for Face to Face Dialogue Between Independent Directors and Shareholders
Is Every Conversation Illegal? A Follow-Up On Shareholder Engagement
A Model of Non-Coercive Leadership
Creativity or Command?
Leadership Mantras
It’s Lonely At the Top: Nietzsche, Mother Teresa and Non-Coercive Leadership
People in the Way
Is Respect Really All That Simple?
“It is Claiming That Gives Rights Their Special Moral Significance”
Darwall and the Emperor’s New Clothes — A Reading Note
Is This A Serious Conversation?
Denning and the Death of Hierarchies
Serious Conversations, 1
The New Collaboration
Serious Conversations, 2
Serious Conversations, 3
From Aping To Asking
“For Me, Music Has No Leader”
Serious Conversations, 4
Serious Conversations, 5
To the Edge of the Gap with Satya Nadella
Serious Conversations, 6
Serious Conversations, 7
Austin and Asking
To Ask and To Demand
Serious Conversations, 8
Austin and Asking, 2
Answering ‘The Ask’ with a ‘Huh?’
Serious Conversations, 9
Serious Conversations, 10
How Things Are Between Us
When Lily Says “No”
How Things Are Between Us, 2
Serious Conversations, 11
How Things Are Between Us, 3
Nussbaum on the Shortcomings of the Transactional
Another Abuse of Asking
A First Note on Naim’s End of Power
A Few Observations on Standing on Quicksand
Levinson on Primitive Economies of Information
Six Questions About Asking and Sophia AI
Renault’s Hedge
The Burgundy Ribbon Rule
Debate without demand? A Note on Project Debater
More Meaningful Consultations: The Biden-Harris Plan for Tribal Nations
Ask as Ideological Blinder
Rorty on Threats vs. Offers