Don’t steal the revelation

There are times when getting to the right answer quickly is important, and everyone should be pushing for the answer. Other times, though, it can be more beneficial to wait and let people figure things out for themselves.

In a recent episode of The Long and The Short of It podcast, Pete shared this idea:

When you’re asking a question when you’re coaching someone in that context, don’t steal the revelation from them. Try and create the conditions for them to have the revelation themselves. And the way we did that was ask questions.

Letting people do it themselves can be good for all involved, but as Pete says in an old blog post of his:

That’s why you remember it. Because it’s more rewarding, more inspiring and more joyful to solve something on your own terms.

Pete credits Paul Jun with coining that phrase, though I’ve heard it said by Seth Godin as well.

It can be easy to jump in with answer, and sometimes that’s a good move, but more often than not the best thing you can do is push people in the right direction and help them find the revelation on their own.

Originally published at https://www.mickmel.com on April 9, 2024.