Welcome to How Leaders Leader every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very

best leaders in the world. I break down the key learnings so that by the end of the episode,

you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what

this podcast is all about. Okay, picture this. Someone on your team

comes to you with the question. Maybe they're not sure how to approach a certain situation.

What do you do? Well, if you're like most leaders, your first instinct is to dispense some advice.

And hey, that's understandable. You're sitting in that

leadership role precisely because you've got all kinds of great wisdom and insights to share.

But according to my guest today, that approach can backfire on you. Michael Bungay Stannier is a

best-selling author and the founder of a fantastic company called Box of Crayons that equips leaders to become better coaches.

And he's on a mission to help leaders move away from giving advice and instead leverage the power of curiosity to draw out their team.

For Michael, curiosity is a leadership superpower that helps you

find better ideas, pinpoint the right problems, and get more from your teammates. And this conversation

is absolutely jam-packed with practical ways to help you do all that. You know what? I was even able to apply some of

Michael's insights right in the middle of our conversation. I'm telling you, this is instant

impact stuff. I might have started a new acronym IIS, and I can't wait for you to hear it.

So here's my conversation with my good friend and soon to be

yours, Michael Bungay-Stany.

You and I have a little bit in common. You know, I used to run marketing for Pizza Hut, and I understand that,

you know, just after I left, Stuff Crest was launched, and you say that you played a tiny,

tiny, tiny part in making that such a big success. And it was a huge success. Tell us about your

Pizza Hut roots. I got to hear this. See, I thought you said we had something in

...