Better questions create better teams. Annie Riley sits down with Maayan Roth, Head of Engineering at Crux Climate, to unpack the skill most managers overlook: asking questions that actually move things forward. Maayan shares how to use curiosity to uncover what’s really going on and guide conversations without controlling them. Plus: the traps new managers fall into, the difference between coaching and interrogating, and the simple question that turns hesitation into action.
TimeStamps:
00:00 – Meet Maayan Roth
02:53 – Startup leadership: building everything from scratch
05:27 – Why asking better questions is a leadership superpower
06:16 – Open vs. closed questions
08:28 – The “Socratic trap” and fake curiosity
10:09 – Letting go of having the answer
12:03 – Why leaders should speak last
14:17 – Go-to questions to unblock your team
18:58 – How to know if you’re asking the right questions
23:39 – Common traps: not listening, fake coaching, dead ends
31:23 – When coaching doesn’t work (and switching styles)
32:20 – What coaching actually means as a manager
39:31 – Growth should feel uncomfortable
43:46 – Hard lesson: stop doing everything so your team can step up
47:07 – There’s no “easy mode” in leadership + finding your people
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