Andy Ellwood: Ask the Right Questions

With an inquisitive mind and asking the right questions, we can unlock new learning pathways, new opportunities, and treasure troves of data.

Information is out there. We just have to know how to unlock it because everyone around us has a lesson that we can learn if we ask the right questions.

Andy Ellwood knows how to ask the right questions to unlock hidden gems.

Andy is an Executive Coach based in NYC on Zoom and serves coaching partners worldwide. Andy partners with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and corporate exeutives to tackle the challenges of leadership, fundraising, and growth.

Andy spent over a decade as a startup operator. First leading partnerships and sales for companies acquired by Google (Waze) and Facebook (Gowalla) before then going on to found three companies of his own. In hindsight, Andy becoming an Executive Coaching was a natural next step in his career’s trajectory. He was drafted into the work by multiple entrepreneurs that had frequently sought him out as a sparring partner and sounding board for the challenges that are unique to those in leadership.

Andy’s years of experience on the front lines and in the trenches give him a unique perspective and network that some of his coaching partners have started calling him the “Coach With Benefits.” Andy believes what starts in a coaching session become collective action items for the coming weeks and the work that will be done together with his coaching partners. The best coaching partnerships Andy has had are active relationships that develop through frequent texts, emails, and check-in calls that happen in between the more formal and dedicated coaching sessions every other week.

When not coaching or working with founding teams at companies in his angel investment portfolio, Andy loves hosting dinner parties, working in his garden, and trying a new recipe on his BBQ grill.

In this episode, Andy shares deeply about his insatiable curiosity and how it got him to where he is today.

Listen to this episode and learn about:

• Andy giving credit and thanks to his younger sister, Katie (4:25)
• How small events impact the course of our lives (12:20)
• The art of asking the right questions (17:12)
• Question asking as a superpower(22:09)
• How systems are crushing our creativity (30:35)
• Curiosity as the solution to loneliness (37:37)
• Being committed to community (41:15)
• The downside to being well connected (47:25)
• Instilling the value of hosting (53:13)
• Andy's message to his sister, Katie (58:54)

Links

• Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyellwood/
• Andy's Website - http://www.andyellwood.com
• Andy's Email - [email protected]