The Power of the Question: How Curiosity Becomes Your Greatest Leadership Weapon

Leadership Sovereignty Podcast: Career Growth and Promotion · 2025-12-08 · 17 min

0:00--:--

Topics in this episode

Executive presence career growth strategies leadership development podcast leadership communication skills how to ask better questions at work

Episode notes

Most leaders are taught to have answers. The best ones have learned to ask better questions. In this episode of the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast, host Ralph Owens and co-host Terry Baylor sit down with Shachella James - VP of Enterprise Systems and Platform Solutions at CenterPoint Energy, 12-time marathon runner, and national-level bodybuilding competitor - for a masterclass on how curiosity, used intentionally, becomes one of the most powerful tools in a leader's arsenal. Shachella unpacks the biggest misconception about asking questions in the workplace - that curiosity signals ignorance - and flips it entirely. She introduces a framework built around three types of questions: questions that help you learn, questions that elevate others, and questions that build a culture of curiosity. She challenges leaders to go "two clicks down" - past the surface metric to what the data is actually telling you - and to prepare questions in advance rather than firing from the hip. Ralph adds a critical insight from his own career: taking even 15 minutes to prepare thoughtful, context-specific questions before a meeting changes how you are perceived in the room.