Leadership

Actually, what’s really powerful is to give people responsibility for their own freedom. There’s this paradoxical way of showing love.

(The first) question is “What’s your mind?” The last question is “What was most useful and most valuable?” The other one is “What’s the real challenge here for you?” It’s almost an identity element. It helps people figure out the real challenge rather than be the person who has the ideas. That’s actually a much rarer, more useful skill in most orga

Everyone has ideas, but ideas are cheap and easy. Knowing the real problem is rare and precious and strategic. If you’re in an organizational setting, if you want to be seen as different and valuable, be the person who’s going, “What’s the problem? What are we really trying to solve here?”

I think “And what else?” is the best coaching question in the world. It does two things: It extends the period of curiosity, and it tames your advice monster.

Curiosity unlocks insight about the situation and yourself. Curiosity helps people feel seen, understood and encouraged. If you lead with curiosity, it’s a more powerful place to lead from most of the time.

I sign off my emails now with, “You’re awesome, and you’re doing great.” I think that’s a mantra for my life, which is having a good sense of self-belief, and even when things are going badly, I’m probably doing the best I can. You can’t always control the circumstances or how things play out. You can only commit to the process.

I had to bet on myself being different. Everybody showed up in blue suits and white shirts and red ties, business dress of the early 1990s. I was wearing a tie-dyed, pink tie, I had long blonde hair and earrings in. I thought I’m either going to come in a distant last or I’m going to come in first. That’s it. I don’t want to come in the middle. Bet

You have to bet on yourself and how you're different to make it work," he said.

The reason Riley has his incredible resume is that he understands leaders don’t need a resume or banners. They need: 1. Honesty without fear of confrontation. 2. Be direct, don’t pull punches, but don’t act in anger. 3. Set the standard, become the standard. 4. Don’t play favorites. 5. Remain confident with a sense of humility. 6. Blame no one. 7.

The way I define coaching is behavioral. Can you stay curious a little bit longer? Can you rush to action and advice-giving a little bit more slowly?