The Coaching Habit

The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier is a compact and transformative guide to becoming a better leader by learning to ask better questions — a book that challenges the assumption that good managers give answers, and argues convincingly that the seven right questions can change how you work, how you lead, and how you help others do their best work.

About the Book

Michael Bungay Stanier is the founder of Box of Crayons, a company that helps organizations do less good work and more great work. The Coaching Habit distills years of research, practice, and organizational wisdom into a slim, highly practical volume built around seven essential questions that transform everyday management conversations into coaching moments.

The book is structured around these seven questions: the Kickstart Question (“What’s on your mind?”), the AWE Question (“And what else?”), the Focus Question (“What’s the real challenge here for you?”), the Foundation Question (“What do you want?”), the Lazy Question (“How can I help?”), the Strategic Question (“If you’re saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?”), and the Learning Question (“What was most useful for you?”). For each question, Stanier explains the psychology behind it, the common pitfalls it helps avoid, and the practical situations where it is most powerful.

What makes the book exceptional is Stanier’s honesty about human behavior. He writes candidly about the “advice monster” — the deeply ingrained habit of rushing to give advice rather than helping people think through their own solutions. He explains, with neuroscientific grounding, why this instinct is so hard to break and why breaking it leads to better outcomes for everyone involved. The writing is crisp, witty, and free of corporate jargon, with short chapters designed for busy professionals who need ideas they can apply immediately.

What Makes It a Meridian Award Winner

The Meridian Award for Business recognizes books that offer genuine insight into how organizations and individuals can do better work together. The Coaching Habit earns this recognition by tackling a fundamental problem — the gap between managerial intention and actual impact — with unusual clarity and practical rigor. Stanier’s seven questions are not gimmicks; they are the product of serious thought about how people communicate, how habits form, and how leaders can create cultures of growth rather than dependency. The book has sold over a million copies because it actually works, and the Meridian Award honors that real-world impact alongside its intellectual substance.

Who Should Read This

The Coaching Habit is essential reading for anyone in a managerial or leadership role, whether in a large corporation, a small nonprofit, or an educational setting. It is particularly valuable for new managers who are still learning the difference between doing the work and enabling others to do the work. Coaches, consultants, teachers, and anyone in a helping profession will also find the seven questions transformative. Readers who have enjoyed Adam Grant’s Give and Take, Daniel Pink’s Drive, or similar evidence-based leadership books will find this a worthy companion on their shelves.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is The Coaching Habit worth reading?

Absolutely — and its brevity means there is no excuse not to. The Coaching Habit is one of those rare business books that earns its recommendations through practical utility rather than hype. The seven questions it teaches are genuinely useful across every professional context, and Stanier’s explanation of the psychology behind them makes them easy to remember and apply. Managers at every level consistently report that this book changed how they lead.

What genre is The Coaching Habit?

The Coaching Habit is business non-fiction, specifically focused on leadership development, management practice, and organizational coaching. It won the 2016 Meridian Award for Business, recognizing its exceptional contribution to practical management literature. Published by Box of Crayons Press, it has become one of the best-selling coaching books of all time.