ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marilee Adams, Ph.D. Marilee’s passion for the transformative power of inquiry has earned her the title of Chief Question Officer. Her work is considered the gold standard for excellence in inquiry in the coaching profession and is widely used for leadership and organizational development. As President/CEO of the Inquiry Institute and the originator of the Question Thinking (QT) methodologies, Marilee is a thought leader, consultant, executive coach, coach trainer, and professional speaker in the United States, Europe, and Asia. She is an adjunct professor at American University’s Key Executive Leadership Program in the School of Public Affairs, and is a faculty member at the Institute for Life Coach Training, Adler International Learning, Expedition Coaching, and is a coach for the Society for Organizational Learning.

Question Thinking is known for transforming the “spirit of inquiry” into practical and powerful questioning and thinking skills and tools that make a difference throughout the world. In her coaching and consulting practice, Marilee has witnessed the benefits of QT-based change work for individuals, leaders, teams, organizations, and communities. Some of these organizations include Areva, Booz Allen, Brother Interntional, DHL, Deluxe, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, and Precyse. In government, these include the Brookings Institution, NASA Goddard, the National Defense University, and the Social Security Administration. Professional associations include the Association for Talent Development, the International Coach Federation, Organizational Development Network, and the Society for Human Resource Management.

In the world of coaching, Change Your Questions is required or recommended reading in many coach training institutes. Many coaches actively use the book in their coaching engagements, and it used by companies that aim to develop more of a coaching culture.

In the world of education, Marilee has spoken to leaders or has consulted at universities including Columbia, Georgetown McDonough School of Business, Harvard, Princeton, Kansas State, Northern Kentucky University, and Southern Methodist University. She also teaches in the Leadership Institute at Kent State, where Question Thinking is integral to this award winning program. She is on the Advisory Board of Learning Forward New Jersey and consults with public and charter schools including Achievement First.

In the world of healthcare, Marilee has consulted with or spoken at hospitals, including Christiana Care, Hamilton Health Services, Johns Hopkins, MedStar Research Institute, Sunnybrook Hospital, and Toronto General Hospital.

Marilee’s first book, The Art of the Question: A Guide to Short-Term Question-Centered Therapy (John Wiley & Sons, 1998) was lauded as a “seminal and breakthrough contribution to the field of psychotherapy.” The second edition of Change Your Questions, Change Your Life was a #1 Amazon Bestseller in Business and Organizational Learning. Teaching That Changes Lives: 12 Mindset Tools for Igniting the Love of Learning (Berrett-Koehler, 2013) brought Question Thinking and Marilee’s love of inquiry into the world of education. It won a Gold Medal IPPY Publishers Award.

Marilee has coauthored chapters integrating Question Thinking with Appreciative Inquiry as well as with Action Learning. She has also published articles on the expert use of questions in coaching, business, relationships, and organizational transformation. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Fielding Graduate Institute and her M.S.W. from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Marilee and her husband, artist and psychologist Ed Adams, live in the river town and arts community of Lambertville, New Jersey. She would love to hear from you at [email protected].