Most people focus on finding answers — such as best practices, rules, laws, techniques, habits, methods and scripts.

They swarm to experts and gurus who promise them "the way."

The only problem is there is no way. You can't become a great innovator by learning the 5 rules of innovation. You can't become a great leader by following the 7 laws of leadership. You can't become great at selling by following any recipe or script.

But only a very few, truly extraordinary individuals understand this simple reality. And of course, that's why they become extraordinary.

The rest continue chasing answers and recipes. And they never realize that this wrongheaded focus is precisely what holds them back.

Those who become extraordinary understand that most answers and recipes are irrelevant, obsolete, or completely wrongheaded. They also understand that an overabundance of answers makes it difficult to identify what matters most and what's really going on.

This is why they focus on developing their ability to ask the right questions.

This small difference in focus makes all the difference in results. Focusing on questions uncomplicates everything — after all, there are millions of answers, but only 1 list of 7 questions. And it makes you swift, nimble and versatile. It is the secret to extraordinariness.

Yet, if you're like most people, you probably haven't even considered this skill. Or how pivotal it is to your success.

It's time to shift your focus. It's time for Skills 2.0.

Every time you hire the wrong person, you trigger a domino effect of problems that distract you — and others — for months, even years.

In the same way, you trigger dominoes after dominoes with every poor communication, every bad strategy and every poor decision.

And while you're busy "managing" your time so you can solve all these problems, it's easy to forget the original source of your problems.

How much more effective would you be if, instead, you learned to prevent all these problems in the first place?

The conventional wisdom that successful people "make mistakes faster" is simply not true.

The extraordinary "prevent mistakes faster."

And the reason they're so adept at preventing mistakes is because they know the right questions to ask upfront.

It's time to shift your emphasis — from answers to questions. It's time for Skills 2.0.

A few quick examples —

You'll never be strong at innovation unless you're also strong at selling your ideas — because otherwise, even your best ideas will flounder.

You'll never be effective with time unless you're also strong with people — because people problems is one of the biggest thieves of your time.

You'll never be strong at customer service unless you're also strong at solving problems — because if you can't solve your customers' problems, your service will always fall short.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg.

If you're struggling with any aspect of your job, the most likely reason is that you learned it in bits and pieces — you didn't master all the inter-related skills you need to truly succeed.

This is what happens when you focus on learning answers. There are millions of answers. And it's impossible to remember them all.

Time to step up to Skills 2.0 — which focuses you on questions. This may be hard to believe, but you only need to master 1 list of questions to become uncommonly insightful about a very wide range of inter-related skills — including Leadership, Innovation, Teamwork, Time Management, Customer Service, Selling, Negotiating, Strategy and more.

Once you understand the right questions, you'll see with stunning clarity that there's very little relevant information in most books, articles or blogs. And that most of what's relevant can be distilled down to the same 1 list of 7 questions.

This means you no longer have to worry about remembering the millions of methods contained in the vast ocean of books. All you have to master is just 1 list of 7 questions.

You can read a whole lot less even while you understand a whole lot more. You can gain mastery over a very wide range of skills. You can become nimble, swift and effective.

Unfortunately, only a very few truly extraordinary folks 'get' that focussing on questions rather than answers is the key to great success.

Time to step up to Skills 2.0.

A few quick examples —

Apple has no Performance Evaluations. Yet, its employees' performance is among the best in the world.

Zappos has no Customer Service manuals for its employees. Yet, its customer service is among the best in the world.

Costco has no initiative for Employee Empowerment. Yet, its employee turnover is among the best in retail.

Extraordinary individuals and organizations ask the right questions — and with just one or two initiatives, get a whole bunch of objectives accomplished as a side benefit.

Most people have too many plates spinning … but not much in the way of actual accomplishments.

The extraordinary are the exact opposite. Just a few plates. A multitude of accomplishments. That's because the extraordinary work on different things. They don't pursue the same initiatives that everybody else sweats over. They know how to pick initiatives where many of their objectives get accomplished as a byproduct or a side benefit of their main initiatives. No extra effort necessary. Simple. Elegant.

But just how can you pull this off? The same way the extraordinary pull it off. By focusing on asking the right questions upfront. And that's what Skills 2.0 is all about.

When you focus on answers — such as best practices, rules, laws, techniques, habits, methods and scripts — you do what everyone else is also doing. And you get lost in a sea of sameness.

The reality is that individuals and organizations who are extraordinary have no practices, attributes or habits in common. They break all the rules. They ignore all the laws. They are originals. They create their own practices.

If you want to leapfrog ahead, you must shift your focus to asking the right questions — so that you can find answers and practices that others haven't even considered yet.

That's what Skills 2.0 is about. It's the Skillset for the future.