Book by Kerri Burchill, PhD
Subject: Book Review
Category: Leadership Development, Performance, Culture
Overview: This book helps leaders slow down, break free from daily chaos, develop problem-solving teams, reduce stress, and focus on meaningful leadership work.
Written by William Gladhart, Chief Marketing Officer

I’ve had the privilege of getting to know author and executive coach Kerri Burchell, supporting clients' work on culture and performance initiatives - I was eager to dive into her book, Leading Out of the ASKhole™ Trap.
This book supports your work and initiatives as a leader - helping you slow down, pull out of the day-to-day spin, build better problem solvers within your team, reduce your stress, and have more time to focus on the leadership work you love.
We’ve all encountered them - individuals who constantly seek advice, nod along and then do nothing with the insights they receive.
This book explores this cycle of endless questioning and inaction, highlighting its toll on leaders and organizations. It also reviews six strategies to deal with ASKhole behavior and stay out of the ASKhole Trap - below are a few that resonated with me.
The Spin of Chronic Questioning
At its core, Kerri examines why employees habitually seek guidance but fail to implement the next steps. Lack of action isn’t about curiosity or growth - it’s based in fear, indecision, and a need for validation. She outlines how this pattern erodes credibility and wastes time for the asker and the leader.
A key concept is “The Spin”—a pattern where individuals apply quick fixes but never reach a real resolution. The Spin leads to burnout, frustration, and stagnation within leadership and teams. Kerri categorizes how to identify spinning behaviors and provides strategies to slow the cycle and redirect energy toward sustainable solutions.
The Cost to Leaders
One of the book’s most impactful points is the burden that ASKhole behaviors place on leaders. Leaders often get trapped, believing they are helping by offering advice, only to find themselves solving the same problems repeatedly.
This drains energy, shifts focus away from strategic work, and fosters a culture of dependency, where employees defer decisions instead of taking ownership. Over time, this leads to fatigue, burnout, and disengagement.
Breaking Free from the ASKhole Trap
For Leaders stuck in The Spin cycle, The ASKhole Trap provides a roadmap to escape. It encourages self-reflection, accountability, and decision-making skills, guiding leaders on how to shift from endless advising to empowering action.
Kerri introduces Humble Inquiry and three levels of active listening - repeating, paraphrasing, and reflecting - as critical tools to steer unproductive conversations toward solutions.
By fostering responsibility, leaders can transform workplace dynamics and create a more proactive and innovative culture.
Setting Boundaries to Reclaim Your Leadership Focus
Kerri also provides a toolkit for Leaders to set boundaries and protect their time. Instead of enabling chronic askers, leaders can learn to redirect their focus on those who will apply insights.
Key strategies from the book include:
Slowing down to go fast - assessing before reacting
Fostering autonomy and accountability to drive engagement
Recognizing and eliminating entitlement cultures that hinder problem-solving
Understanding the leadership cost of constantly responding to unproductive behaviors.
Final Thoughts
Leading Out of the ASKhole Trap is an insightful and humorous take on common workplace leadership challenges. If you find yourself giving the same advice over and over, this book is a must-read.
It encourages readers to rethink how they seek and give advice, making it a valuable resource for leaders, managers, coaches, and anyone looking to drive meaningful action.
It also emphasizes leadership energy management, helping leaders recognize and escape counterproductive cycles.
With Gallup data showing that disengaged & unfocused employees cost businesses trillions annually - The ASKhole Trap makes a strong case for addressing distracting and unproductive ASKhole behaviors.
Will Gladhart is the Chief Marketing Officer at The Culture Think Tank & PL3. His experience includes brand strategy & marketing, content creation, email marketing, and communication outreach.