Ep 175 Nina Blackshear - The Year of "No" (Ted Talk) / Lawyer to Coach / NOT being the Guru

1. Best Coaching Advice You’ve Gotten

• Ask more questions instead of charging in with solutions.
• Slow down the instinct to “fix”—curiosity beats expertise.
• Socialize ideas rather than bulldozing with brilliance.

2. What Are You Still Trying to Improve?

• Reducing compound questions (her version of the coaching filibuster).
• Releasing the impulse to control the conversation.
• Allowing clients to answer imperfectly without “rescuing” them.

3. Most Outrageous Thing You’ve Done in a Session

• Deploying the wildcard question: “What am I not asking you that I should be?”
• Admitting out loud when a session feels stuck.
• Handing responsibility back to the client instead of forcing an insight.

4. What Still Makes You Uncomfortable?

• Knowing when to interrupt clients who go on context marathons.
• Managing the tension between venting and progress.
• Timing the interruption like Double Dutch: jump too early and you break an ankle.

5. Advice for Someone Considering Coaching

• Give yourself to the infinite, unpredictable paths a conversation can take.
• Let go of steering, engineering, and controlling outcomes.
• Trust the process even when it feels like you’re floating in space without gravity.

6. Something You’ve Had to Conquer

• Ego. Full stop.
• The belief that being the smartest person in the room is the job (it isn’t).
• Breaking lifelong habits formed as a lawyer and high achiever.

7. How Are You Using AI in Your Coaching Practice?

• Barely—AI helps run the business, not the coaching room.
• Protecting the human heart of coaching is a priority.
• Belief that if you show up like a robot, you’re easier to replace by one.

8. What Have You Learned About Yourself Through Coaching?

• She’s a lifelong learner who never wants to stop honing her craft.
• Coaching opened an entire new intellectual landscape she wants to master.
• Minimalism and presence are more powerful than frameworks and prep.

Fun Stuff Question

(Bridget Jones, blue crabs, Severance, and a reality-TV confession.)

• Favorite movie: Bridget Jones’s Diary (and she knows you’re judging her).
• Favorite meal: backyard Maryland crab feasts—an entire family ritual, not a menu item.
• Favorite show: Severance, plus a guilty-pleasure detour into Love Is Blind.