Curiosity
by Harvard Business Review Press

Suffice it to say, I was curious about this anthology of 11 short articles about curiosity. Topics include creativity and exploration, managing complexity, professional relationships, listening, and corporate culture.

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic writes, “Curiosity is best defined as the motivation to learn, be open to ideas, and explore novel environments and situations.”

“It’s clear that one of our unique, and exclusively human, qualities is our ability to experience free-floating curiosity—curiosity that is agentic, that comes from us, from our intuition or personal interests as well as from serendipity. Even when we know the starting point, we never quite know the end.”

“Employers are asking for it. Curiosity is frequently listed as one of the most critical and sought-after dimensions of talent, no matter what job, industry, and seniority level.”

“Curiosity enhances focus and concentration and creates a flow optimal for creativity and experimentation.”

“Give your mind the freedom to both wonder and wander… This is the difference between self-driven exploration and experimentation, which unleash your deep curiosity, and extrinsic-based learning, which tends to work against it. Instead of suppressing your genuine interests and passion for learning, let them guide you to the places you actually want to go.”

“Likewise, it’s important to find ‘white spaces’—times and places where you can avoid being distracted by work or mundane tasks and devote yourself to deep thinking.”

How Can I Help? John Coleman writes, “Identifying the people we serve and ways to serve them requires deep-seated curiosity. Consider these questions:

  • Who are my clients?
  • What do they need?
  • What are the key obstacles to their well-being that I’m helping to overcome, and how can I do better?
  • Which colleagues most need my help?
  • How can I effectively offer that help without expectations of return?
  • Which two or three people could I best serve today?”

“Positive professional relationships can help us flourish, make others happy, and create extraordinary corporate cultures… At work, as at home, relationships rest on empathy and curiosity. We can’t have a relationship of mutual care and respect with someone if we don’t display a genuine curiosity for them.”

Be a Good Listener. Manbir Kaur writes, “Use both your head and heart. Try to understand not just the ‘what’ but also the ‘why.’ Good listening will help you understand not just the reasons, but also help you connect the emotions behind what’s being said.”

Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis add, “Asking people, ‘How would you approach this challenge?’ or ‘What has your experience of this situation been?’ is a good way to explore an alternative point of view.”

Addressing a Breakdown in Communication. Marsha Acker writes, “You can create a ‘pause’ by making a neutral observation aloud. This is a way to slow the interaction down and create more space for everyone to get on the same page.”

  • “If someone is not contributing their voice, gently share this observation, and then ask if they see something that’s missing from the conversation… Perhaps they’ll offer additional information that will move the conversation in a new direction.”
  • “If someone seems frustrated, draw attention to the feeling and then try asking, ‘What’s happening for you right now?’ In this way, you’re inviting the person to add new and helpful information to the conversation—and it may shift the dynamic from tense to productive.”
  • “If someone is constantly pushing back on the ideas that others are putting forward… ask, ‘What ideas have you heard from others that you support or align with?’ Many times, people remain silent when they agree with an idea. Asking this question can create more space for alignment between you and the other person, allowing the ideas you agree upon to get more airtime.”

Forming Stronger Connections. Utkarsh Amitabh writes, “When meeting someone new or when having a first conversation with a client, start with an icebreaker—but reframe it. Instead of asking, ‘How’s work going?’ lead with, ‘What’s exciting you these days?’ This reframing can have a disproportionate impact of the depth and breadth of your discussions. While relationships take time to grow, they’re unlikely to blossom into something meaningful if you focus all your conversations on utility.”

Cultivating a Sense of Wonder. David P. Fessell and Karen Reivich write, “University of Michigan psychologist Ethan Kross defines awe as ‘the wonder we feel when we encounter something powerful that we can’t easily explain.’ Often the things that bring us awe have an element of vastness and complexity.”

“For work groups, experiences of awe can lead to increased collaboration, team building, and social connection.”

“Research has shown that experiencing something bigger than us helps us transcend our frame of reference by expanding our mental models and stimulating new ways of thinking. This can increase creativity and innovation and facilitate scientific thinking and ethical decision-making.”

“Nature is an immersive experience of growth and resilience; it can be a powerful source of wonder and awe.”

Complexity. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic writes, curiosity is “important when it comes to managing complexity in two major ways. First, [curious individuals] are generally more tolerant of ambiguity. This nuanced, sophisticated, subtle thinking style defines the very essence of complexity. Second, [curiosity] leads to higher levels of intellectual investment and knowledge acquisition over time, especially in formal domains of education, such as science and art… Knowledge and expertise, much like experience, translate complex situations into familiar ones.”

Building a Culture of Curiosity. Scott Shigeoka writes, “Curiosity is a powerful practice to infuse into a company’s culture… When you build a culture of curiosity, people feel seen and heard—in essence they feel they truly matter. This kind of positive organizational culture does wonders for employees’ well-being, hiring top talent, retention rates, and productivity and fulfillment at work.”

“Intellectual humility is a concept researchers define as, ‘the degree to which people recognize that their beliefs might be wrong.’ Understanding the limitations of your mind and staying open to the wisdom of others is a critical tenet of curiosity. Many leaders fear saying, ‘I don’t know,’ worrying that it makes them look ill-equipped for the job at hand. But research on intellectual humility shows that those who practice it are rarely perceived as less competent.”

“Team members prefer these traits in a leader as they are core ingredients to building trustworthiness. Saying ‘I don’t know’ also indicates you aren’t arrogant about having all the answers and you’re open to the ideas of others.”

“Asking a team something along the lines of, ‘But how might we learn more? Creates the kind of curiosity that encourages participation, collaboration, and problem-solving… Practicing intellectual humility can also reduce anxiety in the workplace. An astonishing finding from one study found that intellectual humility was negatively associated with anxiety and positively associated with happiness and overall life satisfaction.”

Avoid homogenous groupthink “by asking, ‘Who else might have unique insights or solutions to offer? Who else can we ask?’”

“We need to move away from ‘shallow curiosity’ and embrace ‘deep curiosity.’ This is the kind of curiosity that gives us more than data points or facts. It’s a practice that centers on unearthing stories, values, experiences, and feelings. When conversations go beneath the surface in this way, curiosity can strengthen work relationships, foster a better understanding of yourself as a leader, and help you navigate conflict or anxiety in the office.”

“Curiosity is contagious. The more your practice it in a visible way with your teams, the more likely it is they’ll follow your lead—and that’s how culture is built.”

Curiosity is part of the HBR Emotional Intelligence series; see below for a list of the other titles.

Curiosity. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review Press, 2024. Buy from Amazon.com

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I received a review copy of this book.

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Other Books in the HBR Emotional Intelligence series:

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