The Curiosity Advantage

Innovation demands it. AI will (likely) never have it. And employees are chock full of it. The era of the Curious Leader has arrived.

Welcome back to Curiouser, our monthly newsletter with insights about leadership. This month's edition is about curiosity.

What if I told you there’s a skill that improves decision making, reduces interpersonal conflict, and results in better team performance? Oh—and it increases productivity, enhances workplace culture, and fuels creativity and innovation. Did I mention that it also differentiates human beings from artificial intelligence (AI)?

Sounds too good to be true, I know. But according to mounting data and our own experience with leaders, that skill—curiosity—is the real deal.

We wrote our first article about curiosity in 2019, when the conversation around the topic was relatively new. The early data showed strong connections between curiosity and improved business outcomes.

Several years, a global pandemic, and an AI revolution later, curiosity has entered the mainstream conversation, ushering in more compelling data. Curiosity now ranks among the most important business skills.

In our work with thousands of leaders across industries over the last 5 years, we’ve found that our tagline—curious leaders explore, curious organizations innovate—rings more true now than ever.

Here’s why:

1. Curious Leaders Create Thriving Workplaces. When leaders role model and encourage curiosity, they create workplaces with space to explore.
2. Curiosity Protects Against Bias. The more curious you are, the better you’ll be at overcoming certain cognitive biases.
3. Curiosity Is Our Differentiator in the Era of AI. As AI’s capabilities evolve, your curiosity will help you stay competitive.

1. Curious Leaders Create Thriving Workplaces

Today’s workplace is surprisingly different from only a few years ago. A generational shift is driving much of this change, with millennials now a majority of the workforce and holding an increasing number of senior leadership roles. Hybrid or remote work arrangements are now the norm in many industries, requiring new ways of working. And the increasing pace of change and disruption has put a premium on innovation.

The Modern Workplace Thrives on Curiosity

Each of these trends demands a different approach to leadership, one that values curiosity and creates space for exploration.

Enter the Curious Leader.

Steffan Van Hooydonk, an author and expert on curiosity in the workplace, has identified the following 5 traits that define a Curious Leader:

1. Serves as a Role Model. Demonstrates curiosity about self, others, and the world around them.
2. Sets and Clarifies a Vision. Shares a compelling company purpose and vision.
3. Has Humility (and Confidence). Sees themselves as a member of the team.
4. Creates a Safe Environment. Creates psychological safety by framing failures as opportunities to learn.
5. Balances Divergent and Convergent Thinking. Builds space for their team to ideate and explore while creating structures to critically assess existing ideas.

By making curiosity core to the way they work and lead, Curious Leaders create workplaces where employees thrive.

2. Curiosity Protects Against Bias

Bias is no match for genuine curiosity—about yourself, others, or the world around you. Combatting the following cognitive biases may just be curiosity’s most powerful—and underappreciated—benefit:

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to validate what you already believe and ignore contrary information is as human as it is destructive. Fortunately, curiosity is the perfect confirmation bias buster. By channeling a Curious Mindset, you’ll be more open to data, ideas, and solutions that conflict with what you believe. Ultimately, a Curious Leader seeks information, not confirmation.

Status Quo Bias

This bias over values the way things are today and avoids exploring how things could be. We’ve all see this bias in action, but it’s less common in Curious Leaders. A Curious Mindset questions why the current state even exists and actively explores alternatives.

Overconfidence Bias

In many cases, education and experience confer wisdom that helps you make smarter decisions. But being highly credentialed can also make you overly confident. The more expertise you have, the more likely you are to overestimate your abilities and judgements. As with the other biases, curiosity is the antidote: if you’re curious about other perspectives and opinions, you’re more likely to critically assess your own.

Of course, cultivating your own curiosity doesn’t just help protect your own judgements from bias—it helps you spot bias in others, too.

3. Curiosity Is Your Differentiator in the Era of AI

As AI’s capabilities improve, it’s hard to think of a task that automation won’t eventually perform better than humans. For a leader focused purely on performance, that’s an ominous future to consider. But for the Curious Leader, AI presents opportunities to stand out.

In his article Can AI Ever Be as Curious as Humans?, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic concludes that curiosity is likely to remain a distinctly human trait:

“…AI will have an edge over humans in a growing number of tasks, but the capacity to remain capriciously curious about anything, including random things, and pursue one’s interest with passion may remain exclusively human.”

Here’s another way to think about: human curiosity fueled the decades of ingenuity and innovation that gave us modern AI technology. And it’s that same innate curiosity that will continue to propel us forward—albeit, with the support of AI.

AI thought leader (and Leadership & CO. collaborator) Markus Berhardt sums it up best:

"It is vital that leaders and practitioners not only view AI as a tool for resolving existing problems, but also as a dynamic instrument for driving innovation and reshaping business models.”

Stay curious!

- Leadership & Co.

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