Business · Book club
Triggers book club questions
Here are 11 book club questions for Triggers by Marshall Goldsmith, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. Copy them, print them, or bring them up one at a time.
Triggers is Marshall Goldsmith's examination of why behavioral change is so persistently difficult, even for intelligent, self-aware people who genuinely want to change.
Marshall Goldsmith · 2015 · 4h 15m
Full summary and key takeaways →The 11 questions
- 1.
What's the most reliable trigger in your environment for your worst leadership behavior? Is it a person, a situation, a time of day?
- 2.
Goldsmith lists six beliefs that block change. Which one is most active in you right now, about something you know you should change?
- 3.
Draft three Daily Questions for yourself — active questions about behaviors you genuinely want to change. Would you commit to asking them every evening for a month?
- 4.
What environment changes could you make — physical, organizational, or social — that would make your desired behavior easier and your undesired behavior harder?
- 5.
The book argues that knowing what to do and doing it consistently are completely different problems. What's something you know exactly how to do that you still don't do consistently? What's the trigger you haven't accounted for?
- 6.
Think about a person who reliably brings out the worst in you. What specifically happens in interactions with them? What could you do before those interactions to manage the trigger?
- 7.
How much of your organizational behavior do you attribute to your own choices versus to the environment around you? Is that attribution accurate?
- 8.
Goldsmith says measurement alone changes behavior. What would happen if you tracked one leadership behavior every day for thirty days — even without a plan to change it?
- 9.
What's an identity belief — 'I'm not the kind of person who...' — that might be limiting your growth as a leader?
- 10.
The Daily Questions practice requires daily discipline. What practices do you maintain consistently? What makes those sustainable when so many others don't stick?
- 11.
Goldsmith uses the concept of 'AIWATT' — Am I Willing At This Time to make the investment to make a change? Apply this honestly to one change you've been considering.
How to run the discussion
- Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
- Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
- Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
- Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.
Themes worth steering toward
If the conversation stalls, these are the threads that usually restart it.
Common questions
What are good book club questions for Triggers?
Here are 11 book club questions for Triggers by Marshall Goldsmith, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. The strongest openers ask what each reader noticed rather than what they concluded, and the discussion usually turns on behavior change, self-awareness, leadership.
How long should a book club discussion of Triggers last?
Most groups run 60 to 90 minutes of actual discussion. That is roughly six to eight questions, not all of them, so pick the ones that suit your group rather than working down the list in order.
What are the main themes in Triggers?
Behavior change, Self-awareness, Leadership, Self-regulation, Environment. Those are the threads most likely to divide a room, which makes them the useful places to steer a discussion that has gone quiet.
Picking the next one? See books like Triggers or questions for other book club picks.
