It has been said that the quality of your life will only be as good as the questions you ask. So the better the question the better your life will be. One kind of question that is often asked is how did someone accomplish a task or goal, and this is an important question. However, I believe the better question is how an individual continues to do so.
For example:
A good question might be, how did you build a successful company? This gives the individual the opportunity to go back in time and share some of the tactics and strategies that allowed them to build their company at a previous point in time. In my opinion the better question is, how would you build a great company today or how do you continue to grow your company. This question gives them the opportunity to share what is working for them in present time which is more useful for you.
More examples
Good question, how did you lose the weight?
Better question, how do you keep the weight off?
Good question, how did you know he/she was the right one?
Better question, how do you maintain a happy relationship?
Good question, how did you choose your career?
Better question, how do you continue to be successful in your career?
Good question, what do you do? This usually gets you a canned/prepared answer.
Better question, what did you do today? This will catch them a little off guard and make them think about their day.
Put some time in to thinking about the questions you will ask today and hopefully some of the answers will lead you to learn something new.