Curiosity Didn't Kill the Cat: It Promoted Her to CEO

How seeking new knowledge, experiences makes you a better leader

Reddit has become my go-to social media platform, and one of my go-to SubReddits is 

“TIL: Today I learned,” which is precisely what it sounds like. 

There are always interesting posts, from how 16th-century Venetian glassmakers protected their trade secrets to the fact that 21 of the 50 oldest living people are Japanese to any fact you can imagine, from history and sports to science, pop culture, business, and more. The posts range from goofy and oddball to pithy and profound. What they share is a sense of delight in learning and sharing knowledge.

Here at WhiteWater, we’ve long known that curiosity is vital to unlocking your business’s potential. Last year, we led a project with a large multinational organization client to understand what separated their highest-performing leaders from the rest. Intellectual curiosity was the most significant differentiator by far. (Check out the entire case study here.)

These leaders were open to new ideas and people. They relentlessly pursued their interests. They were proactive in seeking new information and hungry for learning. And their curiosity fed itself as new ideas made them thirsty for more knowledge: They’d read something that would trigger an idea or question and keep pulling that thread, seeking more articles, books, podcasts, and people to explore the topic. 

So, what makes intellectual curiosity valuable? It means you’re willing to consider other viewpoints and explore and adopt new ideas. It’s the basis for mental agility, which translates into business agility. It fuels innovation.  

And while it’s a trait that some people naturally have, it’s also a skill you can build. And summer is the perfect time to polish up your curiosity toolkit. 

What kind of curious are you? 

Of course, like any trait, intellectual curiosity isn’t one-size-fits-all. 

Our team here at WhiteWater loves The Five Dimensions of Curiosity, a 2018 Harvard Business Review article by Todd B. Kashdan, David J. Disabato, Fallon R. Goodman, and Carl Naughton. It explains that curiosity can be broken down into five distinct dimensions rather than a single trait. 

As the article states, “Instead of asking, “How curious are you?” we can ask, “How are you curious?”

Synthesizing leading research, the authors co-created a five-dimensional model of

curiosity:

1. Deprivation sensitivity is when you recognize a gap in your knowledge, and filling it offers relief.

2. Joyous exploration is that sense of wonder you feel when confronted with or consumed by something fascinating. 

3. Social curiosity is talking, listening, and observing others to learn what they are thinking and doing. 

4. Stress tolerance is a willingness to accept and even harness the anxiety associated with novelty.

5. Thrill-seeking is the willingness to take physical, social, and financial risks to

 acquire varied, complex, and intense experiences.

By understanding curiosity as nuanced and varied, you can harness its incredible power. 

“A monolithic view of curiosity is insufficient to understand how that quality drives success and fulfillment in work and life,” the authors write. “To discover and leverage talent and to form groups that are greater than the sum of their parts, a more nuanced approach is needed.”

Check out the end of this post, where we’ve included their curiosity scale. Take the test to figure out what kind of curious you are. 

HOW TO BUILD YOUR INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY

Becoming more curious takes attention and intention. Here’s how:

1. This might not come naturally, and that’s OK. Even if your interest is forced at first, fake it until you make it! I promise your curiosity muscle will become toned the more you use it.

2. Curiosity requires valuing questions, and intellectual curiosity thrives when you're asking better ones. To assess and improve the quality of your questions, check out Questions that Fuel Curiosity,  a LinkedIn Learning video by Becki Saltzman. At just under 5 minutes, it’s a quick hit of actionable ways to up the ante on your questions, resulting in instantly better answers. We like it so much that it’s part of the prep work for WhiteWater’s Intellectual Curiosity program! 

3. Fish can’t see the ocean they’re swimming in. Likewise, when you’re a leader, it’s hard to spot the ruts, routines and conventions in your organization. Make a conscious effort not just to accept how things are, but also to question whether there’s a better way. 

4. Remember our client’s high-performing leaders from our research? We found they read a lot and tend to have more diverse social and professional networks. In other words, they don’t stay in their lane–and neither should you. Put yourself into new, even uncomfortable situations. It might feel forced at first, but over time, like any habit, it will become more natural. 

Curiosity is an infinitely renewable resource - the more you have, the more you’ll generate.