E170 | The Power of Staying Curious with Michael Bungay Stanier

If you want to improve the managers in your business, says Michael Bungay Stanier, do more coaching. You might think coaching equals being soft, but you couldn’t be further from the truth. 

“When I'm asked to talk about my philosophy of coaching I've got two words, and the words are Fierce Love.”

Michael wrote the book on coaching, literally. The Coaching Habit is the biggest book on coaching this century. He is the go-to guy for anything coaching related - his 7 questions format has revolutionised coaching, and while we don’t necessarily talk about those today, they do feature. 

In this enlightening episode all about coaching, Michael, who’s also founder of Box of Crayons - a learning and development company helping organisations shift from advice-driven to curiosity-led, talks about his latest book - The Advice Trap. 

This conversation is full of fantastic insights from Michael on how to be a better coach, how to be a better leader, and how to encourage coaching inside your organisation. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 

On today’s podcast:

• The Coaching Habit
• The need for social contracting when hiring a coach
• The principles of coaching
• Why ‘and what else?’ is the most powerful question to ask
• The power of staying curious a little bit longer
• The advice trap