Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Walk the Camino with Michael (and 30 other pioneers) as part of our upcoming Thought Leaders Camino. Learn more and apply here: theweekenduniversity.com/tlc
Michael Bungay Stanier is one of the world’s most respected voices in coaching. He’s the author of multiple bestselling books—including The Coaching Habit and How to Begin—and a master of distilling big ideas into simple, practical tools that help people do work that matters. In 2019, he was named the world’s #1 thought leader in coaching.
In this conversation, we explore:
— Why “we unlock our greatness by working on the hard things”
— How Michael “zigs” when everyone else is zagging
— His unique approach for finding the goals that truly light you up
— The importance of finding simplicity on the other side of complexity.
And more.
You can learn more about Michael’s work and books at https://www.mbs.works.
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Michael Bungay Stanier is at the forefront of shaping how organizations and individuals around the world make being coach-like an essential leadership competency. His book The Coaching Habit “unweirds coaching”. It is the best-selling coaching book of this century, with over a million copies sold and more than ten thousand five-star reviews on Amazon. In 2019, he was named the #1 thought leader in coaching. Michael was the first Canadian Coach of the Year, has been named a Global Coaching Guru since 2014, and was a Rhodes Scholar.
Michael founded Box of Crayons, a learning and development company that has helped hundreds of organizations transform from advice-driven to curiosity-led. (Learn more at BoxOfCrayons.com.)
Michael founded MBS.works where he uses his superpower for creating simplicity on the other side of complexity to share self-coaching tools and insights via his newsletter, books, courses, and membership community. MBS.works is where making progress on whatever is most meaningful to you becomes less hard and more fun. (Learn more at MBS.works.)
Michael is a compelling speaker and facilitator, combining practicality, humour, and an unprecedented degree of engagement with the audience. He’s spoken on stages and screens around the world in front of crowds ranging from ten to ten thousand. His TEDx talks have been watched by a million and a half people. (Learn more at MBS.works.)
En route to today—and these are essential parts of his origin story—Michael knocked himself unconscious as a labourer by hitting himself in the head with a shovel, mastered stagecraft at law school by appearing in a skit called Synchronized Nude Male Modelling, and his first paid piece of writing was a Harlequin Romance-esque story involving a misdelivered letter ... and called The Male Delivery.
You can learn from Michael every week by signing up for his free newsletter at mbs.works/newsletter
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Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:54 - Lessons from Defeat
03:59 - The Possibility Virus
07:08 - Finding Your North Star
08:19 - Purpose Through Questions
12:18 - Daily Journaling
15:24 - Power of Noticing
17:31 - Standing Out
23:08 - Building a Personal Brand
26:29 - Finding Your Voice
30:18 - Power of Definitions
32:43 - Starting a Coaching Career
34:00 - Marketing for Coaches
37:03 - Value of Masterminds
38:08 - Reading Habits
40:42 - Committing to a Goal
45:07 - Learning from False Starts
47:16 - Power of “How Fascinating”
51:42 - The Five Archetypal Energies
58:48 - Value of Coaching
01:03:07 - Resources and Final Thoughts
---
Interview Links:
— Michael’s website - mbs.works
— Michael’s book - amzn.to/4c0Fjij
Walk the Camino with Michael (and 30 other pioneers) as part of our upcoming Thought Leaders Camino. Learn more and apply here: theweekenduniversity.com/tlc
Michael Bungay Stanier is one of the world’s most respected voices in coaching. He’s the author of multiple bestselling books—including The Coaching Habit and How to Begin—and a master of distilling big ideas into simple, practical tools that help people do work that matters. In 2019, he was named the world’s #1 thought leader in coaching.
In this conversation, we explore:
— Why “we unlock our greatness by working on the hard things”
— How Michael “zigs” when everyone else is zagging
— His unique approach for finding the goals that truly light you up
— The importance of finding simplicity on the other side of complexity.
And more.
You can learn more about Michael’s work and books at https://www.mbs.works.
---
Michael Bungay Stanier is at the forefront of shaping how organizations and individuals around the world make being coach-like an essential leadership competency. His book The Coaching Habit “unweirds coaching”. It is the best-selling coaching book of this century, with over a million copies sold and more than ten thousand five-star reviews on Amazon. In 2019, he was named the #1 thought leader in coaching. Michael was the first Canadian Coach of the Year, has been named a Global Coaching Guru since 2014, and was a Rhodes Scholar.
Michael founded Box of Crayons, a learning and development company that has helped hundreds of organizations transform from advice-driven to curiosity-led. (Learn more at BoxOfCrayons.com.)
Michael founded MBS.works where he uses his superpower for creating simplicity on the other side of complexity to share self-coaching tools and insights via his newsletter, books, courses, and membership community. MBS.works is where making progress on whatever is most meaningful to you becomes less hard and more fun. (Learn more at MBS.works.)
Michael is a compelling speaker and facilitator, combining practicality, humour, and an unprecedented degree of engagement with the audience. He’s spoken on stages and screens around the world in front of crowds ranging from ten to ten thousand. His TEDx talks have been watched by a million and a half people. (Learn more at MBS.works.)
En route to today—and these are essential parts of his origin story—Michael knocked himself unconscious as a labourer by hitting himself in the head with a shovel, mastered stagecraft at law school by appearing in a skit called Synchronized Nude Male Modelling, and his first paid piece of writing was a Harlequin Romance-esque story involving a misdelivered letter ... and called The Male Delivery.
You can learn from Michael every week by signing up for his free newsletter at mbs.works/newsletter
---
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:54 - Lessons from Defeat
03:59 - The Possibility Virus
07:08 - Finding Your North Star
08:19 - Purpose Through Questions
12:18 - Daily Journaling
15:24 - Power of Noticing
17:31 - Standing Out
23:08 - Building a Personal Brand
26:29 - Finding Your Voice
30:18 - Power of Definitions
32:43 - Starting a Coaching Career
34:00 - Marketing for Coaches
37:03 - Value of Masterminds
38:08 - Reading Habits
40:42 - Committing to a Goal
45:07 - Learning from False Starts
47:16 - Power of “How Fascinating”
51:42 - The Five Archetypal Energies
58:48 - Value of Coaching
01:03:07 - Resources and Final Thoughts
---
Interview Links:
— Michael’s website - mbs.works
— Michael’s book - amzn.to/4c0Fjij
