Some people think asking questions — to friends, peers or bosses — can make you look weak or insecure. But the simple act can actually help you garner influence and even get the people around to you change their minds, says communication expert Matt Abrahams — if you know the right questions to ask. "Asking a question puts you in a position of power," Abrahams, a Stanford University lecturer, tells CNBC Make It. Asking good questions "demonstrates you care, it demonstrates empathy, it demonstrates you're willing to learn and, in some cases, admit you don't know everything," he adds. Here's how to ask the right questions, at work, home and in your social life, to get ahead and strengthen relationships, he says.

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Persons: —, Matt Abrahams —, Abrahams, Here's Organizations: Stanford University, CNBC