Marty makes people feel smart by asking them questions rather than by telling them what to do. To understand more about how leaders communicate in general and to figure out how to describe what Marty is doing, we went to the Saïd Business School, Templeton College, Oxford to meet Dr. Keith Grint, its Director of Research. He has just written a book on leadership and in our interview he explained to us the relationship between communication and leadership.

According to Dr. Grint, there are two types of communication: one-way (transmission) and two-way (exchange). If you want someone to undertake a new project for you, you could send an e-mail or a memo to your employee OR you could sit down with your employee, review the project, the employees role, and your expectations of the result.

Topic for Discussion: Which do you think would be more effective?

Answer: It’s really the difference between talking to someone and talking with them. "Talking with" includes a dialogue. Creativity flows, questions can be asked; points can be expanded upon and clarified. Sure, an e-mail would be quicker. But the value of this exchange greatly exceeds the cost of the time to have it and makes it much more likely that the overall project will be successful.

Marty has stressed the two-way exchange method and as a result, smart people are challenged and great ideas flow to produce big profits.

You think about it: How do you communicate with your employees? Could you take time to ask more questions? Have you ever tried to open every conversation with a question? Do you think you would learn more if you tried this?