I love Michael Bungay Stanier. He has a great voice, which is easy to listen to on a podcast. I really value his books, as they are so easy to read, to dip in and out of, and- unusually for business literature- they are actually fun to read.

I’ve read ‘Do More Great Work’, and I’ve read The Coaching Habit’. Twice.

But he unsettles me too. Why? He sees me. Flaws and all. And he know exactly why I have these flaws. To make things worse, he also tells me clearly what I can do to tackle those flaws, and spells it out that hard change is just that- hard to do, but worth doing.

He drills into leadership models I use every single day, including transactional analysis and the Karpman Drama Triangle. I work with someone (not directly) who helps me see when I’m wrapped in a drama triangle, which is really helpful.

And, Michael Bungay Stanier’s latest book calls out something I do all the time. It’s called ‘The Advice Trap’. As a rescuer (he describe my preferred style as ‘save it’ , my default problem solving persona is to offer advice to help others out, rather than developing more productive coaching behaviours.

But the subtitle of the book intrigued me even more than the title, because it outlines two characteristics I think I do display (at least sometimes: ‘be humble, stay curious’ and the remainder of the the subtitle is my aim: ‘and change the way you lead forever’.

To find out more, I headed over to his website, and what do I find? Not only really useful downloads and exercises, but Michael has an online free course: The Year of Living Brilliantly which looks right up my street…. so I have signed up! I’ve watched the first two videos, and already I’m challenged to engage better. I’ll no doubt keep you posted with progress and my thoughts about the course.

The Advice Trap is a really easy book to read, and I found myself nodding, and clearly picturing times when I’ve fallen into unhelpful patterns of behaviour. But the time is now to do the ‘hard change’ and to practice, so that everyone can benefit.

Practice, practice, practice.

Read the book. You won’t regret it. And find out more about The Year of Living Brilliantly here