Always ask great questions – that’s the hallmark of a good leader – Every leadership coaching session

If everybody asks questions – who’s got answers? – Me

This post is a rant.

Ever since this book, the 10-second leadership soundbite has been – “ask great questions”. This soundbite advice is the bane of leadership meetings. Everybody internalizes this and there are questions galore – even the most obvious suggestion/idea is phrased as a question. Because we should ask questions.

Our unit economics don’t work – “Should we be focusing on fixing that?” – Naaah lets bleed more money.

The company is missing top-line revenue numbers – “Should we dig deeper?” – Naah lets just sit around and pray.

Product Metric is going the wrong way – “Should we look at fixing the issue?” – Naah lets just keep our head in the sand.

People are leaving because of low compensation – “Should we look at re-doing our comp structure?” – Naah lets just empty the office.

You get the point.

Here is a better way.

Our unit economics don’t work – “We need to stop losing money on every sale, my recommendation is to start focusing on fixing our unit economics. Let’s debate if you have an opposing view?”

Product Metric is going the wrong way – “This metric going the wrong way is not cool, X and I are going to look deeper into this and come back with the next steps. Any hypotheses on why this is going the wrong way?”

Have an opinion and then open up for debate. Have a position and then pose an actual question – leads to an actual exchange of ideas and you become a leader!