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S1E01 | One Great Question: Better Questions, Not Simple Answers
23 Plays5 months ago
This episode sets the foundation for everything that follows.
We start with a simple, uncomfortable question: why are we here? Not as a productivity exercise or a branding hook, but as an honest invitation into better conversations.
Most questions are assumptions in disguise. Asking better questions changes how we work, lead, relate, and live. This podcast offers a framework built around seven core questions, not as a fixed doctrine, but as a flexible system. You can enter wherever you are and circle back as needed.
This isn’t about curiosity, as cleverness, or sounding smart. It’s about creating space for conversations that feel alive, risky, and meaningful. The kind that might disrupt you. Or quietly change everything.
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Transcript
The Power of Curiosity
00:00:00
Speaker
And the first question is, why are we here? The first premise in in coming to curiosity is to understand this thing. One great question can change everything. As you've taught me, most questions are assumptions in disguise. These seven questions I'm about to, you know, or we're about to have a conversation about might not yet even be the best question, but it's a better question that we're currently asking. the seven parts that makes up the word curious, is this idea of, am I asking a better question all the time? And we need better questions, not simpler answers. This is not the gospel. It's not, you know, come down from a mountaintop. It's my thoughts on the last 20 years of people leadership. These are the questions that I will use, but I will tell people all the time, help me find a better one than even this.
00:00:52
Speaker
Trying to enjoy the proximity of our legs. go there you that I was reading in a book, um he was like you know he was he was ah talking about, you know do i do I cross my legs like a young man or an old man slash woman?
00:01:11
Speaker
Like at a certain age, he's like, do I do it the way old men do? And then- Yeah, where it really close. It's true. oh Yeah, like the older, don't you to wrap around? Yeah, yeah. The more her hair wrapped your legs become around each other. It's like a point of pride. I i didn't even, i used to do it like this. And then like, as I got older, I was like, you know?
Personal Reflections and Humor
00:01:30
Speaker
This is more comfortable. Yo, this is all right. Yeah. I did see old men do this I think for me is like, you know, the progeny of a rugby player and I inherited his rugby legs. I'm like, I've got a full, like, I've got a full, um like, five-star hotel pillow right here in my calf muscle. So i just get to I just get to rest it right there and it's just so comfortable. A lot of calf. Yeah, yeah. They glowed them. Yeah, I carried them.
00:01:54
Speaker
and ah I feel like I would need to do yoga with my wife to get bendy enough to do that. bet you talk yoga with your wife. and
00:02:03
Speaker
okay so i have beautiful wallet nine questions for you okay and one of my favorite things ever questions uh-huh uh and the first question is why are we here Why are we here?
The Genesis of the Podcast
00:02:22
Speaker
Well, I think you and I are here because we've been friends for a long time. And years and years ago, I was going through a really hard place, and kind of both professional and existential crisis.
00:02:37
Speaker
And i mean, to be really honest, you were a friend who had been around, you know, for a decade, but we lived in different cities and you had a little bit of an artist mystique because you were in those spaces, but you were always very warm and open to me. And I was like, this is a good guy whose opinion I respect.
00:02:57
Speaker
And so, you know, that four or five years ago conversation has now led to you and I having or some of my favorite conversations that I've ever had.
00:03:07
Speaker
And so when the idea came up, it was like, who's the other most curious person that I know who I have great conversations with?
Valuing Deep Conversations
00:03:15
Speaker
I wonder if we could have those conversations and then do the really intimate thing of taping them for other people. Yeah, super intimate. That's what that's what's ah Pam and Tommy Lee said. Who's that?
00:03:28
Speaker
Might as well tape. I guess so. I don't know where's that could happen. Hit record and see what happens. Yeah. Yeah, so I think, at least I'm here, so I guess I would ask you the same question, like, why do why do you think we're, I think we're here? Mostly because I don't have enough good conversations.
00:03:45
Speaker
And I have a group of five or six people in my life who, it's always a great conversation. And with those people, um the the lift is,
00:03:57
Speaker
either equal or I feel like they bring a lot more lift to the conversation and it feels light and not easy. C.S. Lewis said this of God one time, I said, he's good, not that he's safe. And that's what I think a great conversation is, is we're pursuing safety or the usual or the mundane.
Unpredictability and Impact
00:04:16
Speaker
And you're one of those people in my world where it's like, you might accidentally wreck my life or fix everything in it and we have no idea going in. And that's a fascinating way to enter a conversation. Hmm.
00:04:28
Speaker
And you? Why do you think we can? We're here to get kicked out of this establishment. u Yeah, sorry. For somebody who feels almost no stress ever,
00:04:39
Speaker
I think it's the combination of me trying to make sure that everybody's good, from Justin, who's beautifully handling the production, to you, who've come in from out of town to take time for this, to now the establishment, who my brother, you know, it's nice to have brothers and people who can help get you in, has also helped to organize me getting And now we're immediately in trouble, because apparently I don't think we're supposed
Creative Challenges in Recording
00:04:59
Speaker
to do this here. And they've made that...
00:05:01
Speaker
like Sort of clear. Sort of clear. Like, yeah, you kind of hacked the system. We don't love it, but I guess continue? that what they said? Yeah. I see. It wasn't just about moving furniture. It's like you're not supposed to record in here or something. I think they realized that he said it's not what the space was designed for. And we want to really respect the space. which Listen, I love a good creative ideal. um And so I want to respect it But I'm like, i did i I'm sorry. I did not know.
00:05:27
Speaker
The problem ah with that assumption is there is something destructive about good art, and which is like, that's not what this was designed for. Exactly. You know, that's what's that's why we're going to have some fun with it. there you You know, we're going to want to break it and reform it.
00:05:48
Speaker
Anyway, I think the reason I say we we're here to get kicked out is because the only way you have a good conversation is when you... are willing to cross some boundaries, yeah as you pointed out.
Questions and Growth
00:05:59
Speaker
And um i think it's true that great conversations are rare and you have made a living now helping people ask better questions and you have helped other people advance in their careers and lives as a result of teaching people to answer and ask these questions in their own lives and of other people.
00:06:26
Speaker
And I think we've been taught um that it's good to ask questions. It's good to be curious. You know, I was i was telling you was at a um networking event recently, and that's a great place to find boring questions. oh Mind-numbing.
00:06:42
Speaker
And the problem is most people, in the business world, have been taught to just ask questions. Any question is a good question. Any press is good press. And that's not true. It's not true. As you've taught me, most questions are assumptions in disguise.
00:06:59
Speaker
and And so I think if we don't do anything... else in this little exchange then have a good question have a good conversation about conversations, ask questions about questions, um I think that'll be a win. yeah And so I think of this sort of as like a the mini-series equivalent of a podcast.
00:07:19
Speaker
Oh, I like that. Yeah. It's like it's like WandaVision or, you know, something. ah and And the point is, like, this will have an ending. And so um I'm here because I think that your framework for asking better questions is something applicable to spheres broader than just business.
Executive Coaching and Curiosity
00:07:40
Speaker
I mean that know that you know that. Well, and it's it's not even that I just know it. it's literally the most fun part of my job, right? So I kind of jokingly tell these executives and CEOs and entrepreneurs and founders, hey, I'm i'm going to come in and help you make a happier company. Because our tagline is, you know, we train people how to people.
00:07:59
Speaker
Right. But the unintended or unexpected consequence, very intentional on my part that you don't know yet, is I want to help make you a better human, more curious human. I want to make help you be a more curious spouse and parent and son or daughter or friend or community. Just like I want to help you look at the world in this way. And I cannot tell you how fun it is when, you know, i was with a client recently and he's like, man, me and my wife had like one of those conversations 20 years into our marriage. And he's like, I used one of the little tools. i was like, yeah, because when we're teaching people how to people, it's not just in the boardroom or in a you know Zoom meeting. it's You're now just becoming more curious and present to the moment. And that is easily the most fun part of my job.
00:08:50
Speaker
What is your job? when people like Yeah, you bump into something plane and go, what do you do? I'm an executive coach. So I come in into a company and I help the executives lead better.
00:09:01
Speaker
So it's executive coaching and team development. And we do that either one-on-one in coaching with the executives. We do that with managers where we run cohorts for about eight weeks. We teach them these seven soft skills.
00:09:15
Speaker
ah that we've created. um And then we do like one day retreats where we get the whole company together. And then most recently, we've got an online training program that we finished about six months ago. Well, I think we should jump in. ah What I want to do is kind of give a give a roadmap.
Seven Questions for Leadership
00:09:32
Speaker
Okay. And here's what I'm thinking. So we've got seven questions that I've written down.
00:09:39
Speaker
I've asked you the prequel question, which was, why we here? Which is not one of the seven questions. It's just one of the... Just a good existential question. Why are we here? And every question has a tool. It's got sort of a problem to solve as a thing.
00:09:54
Speaker
Like, here's the problem in here. The solution is not an answer, but a question to help you kind of work through. Yeah, because we what we need, the the first premise in in coming to curiosity is to understand this thing.
00:10:07
Speaker
One great question can change everything. And we need better questions, not simpler answers. And so the framework of curious, the seven parts that makes up the word curious, is this idea of, am I asking a better question all the time? And what I'm even saying is, these seven questions I'm about to, you know, or we're about to have a conversation about over the course of this conversation might not yet even be the best question, but it's a better question that we're currently asking. This is not the gospel. It's not, you know, come down from a mountaintop. It's my thoughts on the last 20 years of people leadership. These are the questions that I will use.
00:10:46
Speaker
But I will tell people all the time, help me find a better one than even this. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. So um the questions that I have are, how can we get on the same page? What do you need?
00:10:59
Speaker
What do I need? Where are we in the process? What are the next steps? Does everything make sense? Does what I do matter? Those are the seven questions. Does that sound like a a journey that you're willing to take us on? Yeah. And, you know, the idea of that is, again, depending on where you are, the first starting point may not be that question. So, you know, you jump to the question that's the most interesting to you and then go, oh, I'm going zigzag because this is not a linear progression.
00:11:32
Speaker
So even when I have clients call me, because those seven questions all have a shape and a tool, right? And my first and favorite question is to go, here are the seven questions. Which one is most interesting to you right now? yeah So it's kind of like a choose your own adventure. You might jump into act two of the play and go, i I didn't want to do act one. It wasn't interesting. But then you might find yourself looping back later on to do that.
00:11:56
Speaker
Cool. Yeah.
Introduction and Conclusion of Podcast
00:11:58
Speaker
What should we call this?
00:12:02
Speaker
I like the idea of one great question. I do too. Yeah. Well, I'm Jeff Goins. And I'm Carl Libba. And this is One Great Question.
00:12:15
Speaker
Thanks for being here.