Most of us have been taught that being helpful means having the answer. Michael Bungay Stanier thinks that instinct can get us into trouble. In this episode of At Work, Under Pressure_, Jessi Beyer sits down with Michael Bungay Stanier, author of _The Coaching Habit and founder of Box of Crayons, to talk about curiosity, advice-giving, change management, workplace culture, and what happens to our behavior when pressure starts stripping away our ability to choose deliberately. Michael explains why people under pressure tend to fall back into familiar patterns, including the victim, persecutor, and rescuer roles of the drama triangle. The goal is not to eliminate those reactions entirely, but to notice them sooner, spend less time trapped inside them, and build enough self-awareness to respond with more intention. Jessi and Michael discuss: • Why most conventional change-management approaches are failing in a world where the pace of change keeps accelerating • What pressure does to human behavior and why people default to old patterns when they feel triggered • How the “advice monster” shows up as the need to tell, save, or control • Why staying curious a little longer helps leaders uncover the real problem instead of solving the wrong one • How advice-giving can become a way of managing our own discomfort rather than helping the other person • Why curiosity gives employees more agency and helps them feel seen, heard, and valued • How organizations can move from a “know-it-all” culture toward a “learn-it-all” culture Michael also makes the case that curiosity is not simply a softer leadership skill. It affects both strategy and culture by helping organizations identify the right problems, reduce unnecessary rescuing, and create environments where people are more capable of thinking and acting for themselves. This episode is for executives, HR leaders, coaches, people managers, change leaders, consultants, and anyone whose instinct under pressure is to jump in, take over, and start fixing. Because the fastest answer is not always the best answer. Sometimes the most useful thing a leader can do is stay curious long enough to understand what is actually happening.