"It's not having the answers I teach people — it's having the questions. And that just upsets the entire architecture of safe thinking." - Phil Liebman

Phil Liebman spent years being mentored by one of the most relentless questioners he'd ever encountered. It changed everything about how he leads and coaches. In this conversation, Phil unpacks the difference between knowing mode and learning mode, why most of us were systematically educated out of curiosity, and what it actually takes to form a powerful question.

He introduces his cycle of curiosity and certainty, a four-quadrant framework that explains why three-quarters of the best thinking happens before any action is taken.

Phil shares hard-won lessons from decades of executive coaching, traces his intellectual foundation back to mentor Dr. Lee Thayer, and makes the case that leadership is a performing art, not a management science.

The episode closes with a personal health scare that became an unexpected masterclass in what curiosity can do when fear shows up uninvited.

This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com.

Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions)

Keep questioning!

Resources Mentioned

ALPS Leadership (https://alpsleadership.com/)

Dr. Lee Thayer (https://thethayerinstitute.org/about-us/)

Vistage (https://www.vistage.com/)

Lynn Borton - Choose to Be Curious podcast (https://lynnborton.com/)

Stony Brook University (https://www.stonybrook.edu/)

Elon Musk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk)

John Cleese (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cleese)

Grace Hopper (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper)

Leonardo da Vinci quote: "It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sit back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things."

Pablo Picasso (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso)

Mount Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Center (https://www.msmc.com/comprehensive-cancer-center/)

Phil Liebman on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/philiprliebman)

Producer Ben Ford (https://www.producerbenford.com/)

Beauty Pill (https://www.beautypill.com/)