Shannon Minifie: Box of Crayons

Shannon is the CEO of Box of Crayons, the firm behind the best-selling books The Coaching Habit* and The Advice Trap*. Box of Crayons is a learning and development company that helps unleash the power of curiosity to create connected and engaged company cultures.

Shannon followed an unusual path to becoming CEO of Box of Crayons. Her career began in academia, a pursuit driven by her desire to be a part of conversations she thinks are important. In 2016, she embarked on a new path, starting a career in corporate learning and development. She brings to her role more than a decade of experience in education and in practicing incisive investigation.

In this conversation, Shannon and I talk about the word curiosity and the reality that not everybody thinks about that word the same way we do. We explore the distinction between troublemakers and changemakers and provide practical suggestions to inspire more curiosity inside your organization. Plus, we highlight many of the common barriers to utilizing curiosity well.

Key Points

Curiosity is a state, not a trait.

Nobody says they are against curiosity. But the truth is that they’re suspicious of it.

Four things tend to hold firms back from the benefits of changemaker curiosity:

Complacency: being used to the status quo.

Delusion: the belief that they are already good at it.

Environment: espoused values vs. what’s being done in practice because of real barriers.

The Advice Monster: too much a cultural reliance on advice-giving.

Resources Mentioned

Box of Crayons

The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever* by Michael Bungay Stanier

The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious & Change the Way You Lead Forever* by Michael Bungay Stanier

Related Episodes

How to Build Psychological Safety, with Amy Edmondson (episode 404)

The Way to Be More Coach-Like, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 458)

How to Build a Coaching Culture, with Andrea Wanerstrand (episode 501)

Discover More

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.