Chad SilversteinBuilt To Lead · Entrepreneur , Advisor, & Thought Leader

The Secret to Building Leaders

Name: The Secret to Building Leaders
Uploaded: 2025-10-29T11:00:29+00:00
Duration: 1 min 11 s
Channel: Chad Silverstein
Description: In this talk, Chad Silverstein explains a simple yet powerful coaching technique for leaders: when a team member asks for a solution, the leader responds…

29 Oct 2025 · 1 min

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1:11

In this talk, Chad Silverstein explains a simple yet powerful coaching technique for leaders: when a team member asks for a solution, the leader responds with a curious question instead of giving the answer outright. By asking the individual to propose three possible approaches and articulate their own thinking first, the leader trains the person to think critically, builds trust, and empowers them to own the solution. Silverstein argues that this disciplined habit creates a cascade of leadership—people who develop solutions become leaders who, in turn, develop more leaders. The core message is that leaders should habitually challenge their teams with thoughtful questions to foster self‑reliance, confidence, and a sustainable leadership pipeline.

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And it's so cool when you think about how powerful it is to challenge people who you're leading by asking them curious questions when they come to you for an answer. It's genius. You answer their question with a question and you make them answer it, even as just practice. You know, they come to you with a problem that you know you can solve. There's a solution that you have the answer. They know that's why they're coming to you. And instead you tell them, what would you do? Give me 3 ways that you might deal with that. And you get people trained to be able to empower them. And, uh, you know, when you can get other people coming up with the solutions and other people know it's their doing that gets them to wherever they're going, and not just something that they were spoon-fed by a leader, um, that is how leaders build leaders who build leaders. And that's a worthy aim for any leader, to want to build a leadership team that can build another level of leaders. And the way you do that is you challenge them, challenge them with curious questions. You build the trust, and you make sure that you empower empower them by having them come up with solutions, having them tell you what they think before you tell them what you think. And it's just a discipline, it's a habit, and if you're a leader, you got to get good at it.