Curiosity #43 - The One with All the Answers (and None of Them)

🎤 Quotable quotes: "He realized that they all had their answers. But none of them had his answer."

Sound familiar?

It’s not from a locker room pep talk or a biscuit-fueled brainstorm — it’s a quiet little mic drop from The Business of You — our next project that pairs mighty well with the wisdom in Lead It Like Lasso.

The setup is simple: A man, a pot of coffee, and a story about a young person seeking wisdom. He asks 100 successful people for advice. Some say play it safe. Others say take big swings. One says network like your life depends on it. Another? Build skills, don’t schmooze.

Each answer? Valid.

Each answer? Contradictory.

The punchline? He realized they all had their answers. But none of them had his.

Boom. A moment of clarity, brewed fresh.

This Week’s Curiosity: Can Fiction Make You a Better Leader?

New research says yes. (And so does Ted Lasso.)

Turns out, curling up with a good novel might be one of the best leadership development moves you can make — right after "bring biscuits" and "believe in people more than they believe in themselves."

Why? Because reading fiction grows your empathy muscle.
When you dive into a story, your brain simulates social experience. You begin to feel what characters feel. You practice seeing the world through someone else’s eyes.

And that’s basically Leadership 101.

☕ Curiosity Steeped in Truth

It’s easy to drown in advice. TikTok, LinkedIn, that one loud uncle — everyone’s got a recipe for success. But leadership isn’t a frozen dinner. You can’t just heat up someone else’s formula and call it your own.

True leadership starts when you stop collecting everyone else's answers and start asking better questions of yourself.

That’s what Ted Lasso gets right. The man walks into a locker room where he doesn’t know the sport, the slang, or the stakes. He doesn’t win because he read the “Top 10 Habits of Winning Coaches.” He wins because he knows who he is.

He leads with belief, kindness, accountability, and yes — absurd levels of optimism.

He’s not copying playbooks. He’s writing one.

🎯 Here’s What That Means for Us

If Lead It Like Lasso is about showing up as a leader in the world — with heart, humor, and humanity — then The Business of You is about doing the internal work to become that kind of leader in the first place.  It’s about asking better questions, owning your story, and making intentional decisions — not just in your career, but in how you live, grow, and lead yourself.

The world will always try to tell you what success looks like.

But that’s their story.

Your job is to figure out what success feels like — to you.

So yes, ask for advice. Be curious. Take notes. But don’t mistake someone else’s chapter for your whole book. The real work is choosing what fits, what resonates, and what makes you feel like you — not a second-rate version of someone else.

“You don’t need everyone’s answer.
You need your answer.
And that answer starts with knowing who you are.”

🫶 Stay curious,
— Nick & Marnie
Your tea-sipping, question-asking, answer-finding leadership friends

More leadership musings

🍪 Biscuits with the Boss: 

Icebreaker time:  

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given —
…and the worst?

Now here’s the fun part:
Did either actually work for you?

Sometimes great advice misses.
Sometimes terrible advice hits.
The real magic? Figuring out what fits you.

📚Beard’s collection:

We want to hear from you - what are you reading? Fiction - non-fiction? We love it all! What is a book you think we should recommend?

🌎 This week in Here - There - Every F’ing where 

We were virtually all over the place :) (in a good way).  You can listen to our Unstoppable Success episode with Jaclyn Strominger here.

And we were on Get Rooted Radio with Erica Gifford-Mills. That episode can be found here.

Happy day!

Nick & Marnie