Happy Friday,

How did we get to April so fast? As you prepare for a beautiful weekend, take a moment to consume an illuminating review of a segment from a book, a few quotes that will capture your attention, and a thought-provoking find from the internet - small bites of wisdom. Here is the Wise Bites memo for you to consider for the week.

Book Segment

This week I want to share a book segment review from The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier. In this short read, Stanier manages to distill the most critical habits of coaching to seven transformative questions that every leader should ask to improve their work and help others improve theirs.

The Kickstart question - “What’s on your mind?” - This question is an excellent start to any conversation. It is the perfect balance between being focused and open that invites people to what most important to them.
The Awe question - “And what else?” - This self-management question opens the door for more insight and self-awareness and sets the stage for the rest of the questions.
The Focus question - “What’s the real challenge here for you?” - This question slows down any rush to action and helps you address the real problem.
The Foundation question - “What do you want?” - This question helps you to get at the heart of what matters most.
The Lazy question - “How can I help?” - This powerful question is a time saver question for you as it forces those you are working with to make a clear and direct request and keeps you from making assumptions about what would be best.
The Strategic question - “If you’re saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?” - This complex question is a time saver question for those working with you as it helps them clarify their commitments.
The Learning question - “What was most useful for you?” - The bookend question helps you create a space for those that you work to have learning moments, and it connects back to the kickstart question.

Stanier wisely advises us to ask one question at a time when implementing the coaching habit. He shares that rolling out a string of questions, regardless of our motivations or intentions, could make people defensive and counter our goal to help others get better.

Quotes

Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work.
-Gustav Flaubert
Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work.
-Seth Godin

Internet Find

Are you an original? If you fancy yourself as one or have been described as such by others, you will benefit from watching Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers, a 2016 TED Talks video presented by Adam Grant, organizational psychologist, best-selling author, and podcast host who focuses on the dynamics of success and productivity in the workplace. In his talk, Grant poses the driving question: How do creative people develop great ideas? Grant coined the term originals to refer to people who dream up new ideas and take action to put them out in the world.

He highlights three principles that you can use today whether you think you are an original or not.

Boost your creativity by being quick to start but slow to finish.
Motivate yourself to try something unique by embracing the fear of failure.
You need a lot of bad ideas to get a few good ones.

These principles are not groundbreaking, but they can be liberating and empowering if enacted when we are confronted with negative thoughts during a brainstorming session. If you want to go deeper into the topic, I would recommend you pick up a copy of Grant’s New York Times Best Seller, Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World.

Stay tuned for future Wise Bites memos; share it online; and tell a friend!