To harness the creativity and innovation we need to thrive, we must nurture our sense of curiosity, so that we are always on the look-out for the interesting, intriguing and new.
To-do lists. We all make them.
They might remind us that we need to finish that monthly report, find a new supplier – or simply nudge us to pick up our dry-cleaning. They could be a bit more ambitious, exhorting us to try the online course we've been researching or to reach out to some new people to round out our networks.
Chances are, though, they’re unlikely to list things such as, “get the master of arithmetic to show you how to square a triangle” or “ask Benedetto Potinari by what means they go on ice in Flanders”, all the while suggesting that we need to “Draw Milan” and “ask about the measurement of the sun promised me by Maestro Giovanni Francese”.
But these are just some of the items that appear on the to-do lists of the ultimate polymath, that Renaissance man of all Renaissance men, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci. The scope of da Vinci’s interest and influence is staggering: artist, inventor, scientist, anatomist, botanist, musician; the list goes on.
Through almost 7,000 pages of his surviving notebooks, we can trace how da Vinci jotted down everything he saw around him, his thoughts, observations and reflections; sketches, impressions and, of course, those to-do lists. And all this with little formal education.
In his book How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci, Michael J Gelb explores what he calls seven da Vincian principles. They include qualities such as his ability to connect seemingly disparate ideas, to embrace ambiguity and his focus on experimentation.
But the most important da Vincian trait Gelb identifies is another characteristic the great man has come to embody: curiosity.
Like us, da Vinci lived at a time of great change, when new ideas were challenging the status quo and a world of challenges and possibilities was opening up before him.
In the face of this uncertainty, his notebooks show an irrepressible urge to explore, to find out, ask difficult questions and use the answers to inform his inventions, ideas and creations.
Art historian and broadcaster Kenneth Clark went as far as to describe him as “undoubtedly the most curious man who ever lived”.
Could a da Vinci-like curiosity, then, be a trait worth nurturing in 21st-century workplaces characterised by unpredictability and the need for creativity and innovation?
Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, believes so. Dell has identified curiosity as the attribute leaders are most likely to need to succeed in our turbulent times.
“With curiosity comes learning and new ideas,” he says, “If you’re not doing that, you’re going to have a real problem.”
Nor is Dell alone.
The idea that curiosity - expanding our perspective, having the right mindset to question assumptions - is essential for meeting the challenges of uncertainty is gaining traction.
We may not be able to predict precisely what the future holds, but curious leaders, concerned less about having all the answers and more about asking the right questions and listening to a range of answers, hold the key.
Harvard Professor, Francesca Gino, agrees. For Gino, the impulse to “seek new information and experiences and explore novel possibilities” is a basic human attribute.
She also believes that it has huge potential benefits for organisations – provided that we leaders create the infrastructures and cultures needed to encourage curiosity, whatever work we’re doing and wherever we may work.
Gino identifies three key benefits of curiosity for organisations, leaders, and employees.
1. Fewer decision-making errors
When our curiosity is triggered, we are less likely to fall prey to confirmation bias (looking for information that supports what we already believe) and a tendency to stereotype people (making broad judgements about people based on their personal characteristics).
Our cognitive biases make us the least objective source in assessing behaviour and performance. Curiosity leads us to generate and consider alternatives.
2. More innovation and positive changes in both creative and non-creative jobs
Even in work environments considered to be highly structured, curiosity can make a difference.
For example, we might not think of call centres as the most creative of organisations where curiosity might be an asset. But an INSEAD study showed that new call centre workers who scored highly on a survey designed to measure curiosity were more likely – after only four weeks – to seek out information from co-workers, and then use that information in their jobs, for example, boosting their creativity in addressing customer concerns.
When we are curious, we are better able – da Vinci style – to make connections and to come up with creative solutions, to be more innovative.
It’s also associated with less defensive reactions to stress and less aggressive reactions to provocation – as well as better performance.
3. Reduced group conflict
Gino’s research found that curiosity encourages members of a group to put themselves in one another’s shoes.
Instead of just focussing on their own worldview, they took an interest in other people’s ideas.
That improved teamwork, with groups communicating more openly and listening more carefully; they were also able to handle any conflict more effectively. The outcome? Better results.
Curiosity is also closely related to empathy.
Author Peter Bregman even suggests that empathy starts with curiosity. When we ask questions, show that we’re curious, we also work on developing our understanding of another person’s situation.
Asking questions, having the humility of not knowing is an important precursor to empathy and compassion.
The global design company, IDEO, looks to hire “T-shaped” employees: people with the right depth of skills (the vertical stroke of the T) together with a predisposition for collaboration across disciplines, a quality requiring empathy and curiosity (the horizontal stroke of the T).
T-shaped employees deploy:
empathy by listening thoughtfully and seeing problems or decisions from another person’s perspective.
curiosity by showing interest in other people’s work and interests.
IDEO also understands that most people perform at their best not just because they’re specialists but because their deep skill is accompanied by an intellectual curiosity that leads them to ask questions, explore, and collaborate.
With such a positive array of benefits on offer, we might think that leaders would jump at the chance of creating cultures that encourage curiosity – our own as well as other people’s.
But it’s not quite that straightforward.
Vulnerability
It’s no coincidence that many of the items on da Vinci’s to-do lists start with the word “ask”. But we often find it difficult to ask questions ourselves:
Asking a question such as “I wonder?” might seem like we’re admitting that we don’t know – and that can make us feel vulnerable.
Embracing that vulnerability or asking a question and receiving honest (but perhaps unwelcome) answers or opinions can be hard.
Ego, arrogance, or fear that we’ll be judged incompetent, indecisive, or unintelligent are just a few of the many reasons we might hold back.
As we progress in our careers, this might get worse, as we may think we have less to learn or feel the pressure that, as leaders, we need to provide answers rather than ask questions.
Researcher and storyteller, Brené Brown, author of Dare to Lead, exhorts leaders to take off their armour of supposedly knowing-it-all and instead embrace “rumbling with vulnerability”.
For Brown, “wholehearted leadership” is about having the courage not to know and to invite, nurture and reward curiosity, even if that can sometimes feel uncomfortable.
Francesca Gino’s research also suggests that when we demonstrate curiosity about others by asking these questions, people like us more and view us as more competent.
It enables trust and connection, and improves motivation.
We need to be bold and to start asking curious, open questions. Einstein was right when he said:
“The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
Work context and culture
Gino has also identified organisational-level barriers to curiosity.
Her research shows that, despite the fact that 92% of leaders understand how important a catalyst curiosity can be for “job satisfaction, motivation, innovation and high performance”, on the ground, two tendencies mitigate against it.
Leaders often think that letting employees follow their curiosity will make them harder to manage, result in more disagreement and slow down decision-making. In short: create a “costly mess”.
And although people often list creativity as a goal, they frequently reject creative ideas when actually presented with them – a reaction completely counter to the idea that exploration inherently involves questioning the status quo and not settling for the first possible solution.
Henry Ford’s single-minded focus on efficiency might have transformed industrial production, but it also meant he stopped experimenting and innovating – and eventually lost his company market share.
More emphasis on curiosity might have helped him better to weather the storm.
Today, too, curiosity can fall prey to the pressures of the day-to-day.
Having to complete work as quickly and efficiently as possible gives us little time to ask questions or to stop and think about processes or goals.
There may be times when the right thing to do is to put our heads down and just get things done – but not always. We also need the time and space to explore.
Shutting down curiosity can lead to problems. It’s costly for individuals and for organisations. We need to make a mindset shift to value and nurture a sense of exploration.
And, because of our own biases and fears and those organisational barriers, we need to be intentional about fostering rather than stifling it.
The good news, though, is that none of us is born with a fixed curiosity quotient; we all have the potential to be more curious, given the right conditions.
Future Talent Learning has developed an ABC of practical techniques we can use to boost our curiosity:
A: Always be asking
B: Broaden your horizons
C: Be courageous
Here are some examples of what that means.
A: Always be asking
In 2004, an anonymous billboard appeared on Highway 101, in the heart of Silicon Valley, posing this puzzle: “{first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits of e}.com.” The answer led the curious online, where they found another equation to solve. Those who did so were invited to submit a cv to Google.
It’s a brilliant example of the premium Google places on curiosity: Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO from 2001 to 2011, said: “We run this company on questions, not answers.”
Asking questions, being prepared not to know, is at the heart of curiosity.
B: Broaden your horizons
Francesca Gino gives the example of a worker at Olivetti, the Italian typewriter manufacturer, found taking home bits of machinery in the 1930s.
When he was reported by a rather earnest colleague for stealing, rather than immediately firing him, his manager chose to understand why he was quite literally taking his work home with him.
It turned out that he was particularly curious about how the machinery worked. As a result, he was allowed to continue his exploration at home, which eventually led to the invention of an early electronic calculator.
Finding opportunities to broaden our own – and others’ – horizons is a sure-fire way to boost our creativity. When we have the time and space to explore, to have new experiences and to meet new people, we are much more likely to think outside the box.
C: Be courageous
Businessman and politician, Michael Bloomberg, believes that leadership is about doing what we think is right and then building support for it – rather than following the crowd. As Mayor of New York, he was prepared to be courageous in his pursuit of progress.
He considered that ending his time in office with high approval ratings would mean that he had wasted his years as Mayor: “High approval rating means you’re skiing down the slope and you never fall…Go to a steeper slope. You always want to press, and you want to tackle the issues that are unpopular, that nobody else will go after.”
Having a strong sense of values, being comfortable with being vulnerable and having the resilience to press on are elements of what Brené Brown calls courageous leadership.
Leonardo da Vinci believed that “learning never exhausts the mind”.
He taught us that curiosity is the basis for creativity and innovation. As individuals, we need to tap into our own sense of wonder to keep building skill and experience for the challenges ahead.
Like da Vinci, we can range widely, not limiting ourselves to one role, skill or worldview.
We can train ourselves to question rather than accept, to explore and look for answers in a diverse range of places.
We can embrace the fact that, as learners, we’re never done.
And we can record and reflect to make the most of the experiences we have.
As leaders, it’s also incumbent on us to nurture the same curiosity in the people for whom we’re responsible.
If we want to build resilient, innovative organisations, we should start by creating curious organisations that nurture and enhance that sense of wonder in everyone.
Microsoft's Bill Gates said: “If you give people tools, and they use their natural abilities and their curiosity, they will develop things in ways that will surprise you very much beyond what you might have expected.”
Now that’s something for our next to-do list.
Identify two barriers that, according to Francesca Gino, inhibit curiosity in organisations:
Outline what the “B” of Future Talent Learning’s ABC of curiosity stands for?
Consider the idea that working as quickly and efficiently as possible might have the unintended consequence of shutting down curiosity.
What could you do to make sure you and your people have the space and time to balance efficiency with asking questions and thinking about how and why we do what we do?