The Hard Skills Why Your Best Advice Backfires (and How Humble Inquiry Can Help)
Ever wonder why your best advice falls flat? Or why it's hard to give good feedback successfully? If you've ever struggled with giving feedback that doesn't stick, managing teams that feel disconnected, or making decisions with incomplete information, this episode offers a mindset shift that transforms not just conversations, but organizational culture itself.
You've been there: a colleague asks for help, you offer your hard-won wisdom, and it lands like a lead balloon. They've already tried it. Or worse, they nod politely and do nothing. Or you offer mentorship to help a new team member or someone earlier in their career avoid the mistakes you made. You thought you were doing them a favor but instead, it felt unappreciated. The problem? You diagnosed and told before you understood.
Peter Schein—consultant, author, and collaborator with his late father, legendary MIT Professor Ed Schein—joins me to explore Humble Inquiry, a deceptively simple practice that transforms how leaders navigate complexity and improve organizational effectiveness. This isn't about active listening techniques you learned in your last training. It's about fundamentally shifting a culturally-embedded mindset from transactional, efficiency-focused exchanges to one that requires the art and attitude for greater human effectiveness.
We dive into why efficiency often sabotages effectiveness, how AI and remote work make this skill more critical than ever, and what types of conversations unlock breakthrough thinking.
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ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Peter Schein is a consultant, author and keynote speaker based in Menlo Park, CA. Following a 30 year career in Silicon Valley, Peter teamed up with his father, renowned MIT Professor Ed Schein to start the Organizational Culture and Leadership Institute. Over eight years together Peter and Ed published seven books and numerous papers on Humble Inquiry, Organizational Culture, Careers, and Humble Leadership. Peters continues the work following his father's death in 2023 with the recent release of Humble Inquiry 3rd Edition. Peter has a BA in Social Anthropology from Stanford and an MBA from Kellogg/Northwestern.
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FIND OUR GUEST HERE:
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