156: MBS on Tipping Points and Pivoting Out of CEO (From His Own Company)

I’m so excited to share this week’s Pivot conversation with one of my longtime friends and most important mentors, Michael Bungay Stanier. We talk about tipping points, preparing for TED Talks, and transitioning out of the CEO role from the company he founded nearly 20 years ago, Box of Crayons. We are also celebrating the launch of his latest brilliant book, The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious, and Change the Way You Lead Forever.

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More About Michael Bungay Stanier

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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. In 2019, he was named the #1 thought leader in coaching, and was shortlisted for the coaching prize by Thinkers50, (the “Oscars of management”). Michael was the first Canadian Coach of the Year and has been named a Global Coaching Guru since 2014. He was a Rhodes Scholar.

Michael’s the founder of Box of Crayons. Box of Crayons is a learning and development company that helps unleash the power of curiosity to create connected and engaged company cultures. We help organizations transform from advice-driven to curiosity-led. Box of Crayons’ clients are global. You can learn more at BoxOfCrayons.com.

Michael is a compelling keynote speaker, combining practicality, humour, and an unprecedented degree of engagement with the audience. He’s spoken around the world in front of crowds ranging from ten to ten thousand. You can learn more at MBS.works.

 Topics We Cover

  • Unpacking the delightful mystery of his book sales success (750,000 copies and counting!)

  • Preparing for TED Talks . . . and what not to do

  • Pivoting out of the CEO Role from his own company of nearly 20 years; how he made that decision, and when he knew it was time

  • Easy Change (Present You) vs. Hard Change (Future You)

  • Surfacing commitments about how you show up, and saying no

  • The No Snowball: “Say no to the good so you can say yes to the best.” —John Maxwell

  • Three coaching principles: be lazy, be curious, be often

  • The irony of giving a book of advice on how to give less advice: your job is to stop seeking the solutions and start finding the challenges

Resources Mentioned

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