Michael Bungay Stanier is at the forefront of shaping how organizations around the world make being coach-like an essential leadership competency. His book The Coaching Habit* is the best-selling coaching book of this century, with over 700,000 copies sold and 1,000+ five-star reviews on Amazon.

He’s the author of the new book The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious, and Change the Way You Lead Forever*.

In this conversation, Michael and I discuss why advice is overrated and often displays poor leadership. Michael shows us how to avoid coaching ghosts and dealing with people who can’t stop talking. Plus, we explore how to keep people engaged in the conversation, become more coach-like, and qualify advice when the time is right to give it.

Advice is overrated. Not advice itself. There’s a time and a place for good advice. The problem is the default habit of giving advice. -Michael Bungay Stanier

The Advice Trap: The more I give them advice, the more they want my advice.

Three reasons your advice doesn’t get results:

Avoid coaching the ghost (the person note present) and yarning (excessive conversation that isn’t leading anywhere productive).

To keep people engaged in the conversation, use the TERA principles:

When you do give advice, consider diminishing it with:

Download my highlights from The Advice Trap in PDF format (free membership required).

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