I wonder - is curiosity my superpower?

Having some time over the holiday break to sit with friends and reflect on how, in various situations, some people pause and ask a question, whereas some press on. Whilst a propensity for action is to be applauded (without action, nothing changes!), I do recall a time in my career when the phrase “Ready, Fire, Aim” was commonly used by my team to describe parts of our organization.

Coincidentally, my neighbours moved their toilet five times around the bathroom within a year. If ever there was a time to use Stephen Covey’s habit of “begin with the end in mind”, that would surely have been one.

As I grew from being an individual contributor and being curious about “things” (I wonder why these Cadbury TimeOut bars are suffering from chocolate bloom?) to becoming a people leader and becoming curious about how to influence outcomes, I learnt to deal more effectively with ambiguity. Indeed, if I had not, my native curiosity would likely have led to ‘Analysis Paralysis’, and no action…and no personal growth.

Subsequently, “Ready, Fire, Aim” became “Ready, Fire, Aim, Course-correct” – or in innovators language, “Fail Fast"; or "Getting to Plan B”.

A key question I ask myself now, is “When?”. When does this decision need to be made? Then I know how long I can spend in the information gathering phase and maintain a state of curiosity. I’m comfortable asking lots of questions, and I suspect this is because I’m not embarrassed by asking the ‘wrong’ question. Indeed, I’ll keep asking questions until I get enough understanding to ask the ‘right’ questions.

This confidence comes from my understanding that there are Known Unknowns, and Unknown Unknowns (I’ll add a link from Donald Rumsfeld’s talk about this 20 plus years ago), and another of Stephen Covey’s habits “Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood”.

My favourite question is “Why?” Why does this decision need to be made? Why did this (good or bad) outcome happen?

I can attribute a lot of my early and mid-career success to the intellectual aspect of how to get things to work, how to make this or that (Cadbury Boost!), my later success is founded on the growth of my emotional intelligence.

So, my favourite question more directed to people's behaviour - Why did this person do/not do this, or why did they react that way? I try to minimize asking the why question out loud, as it can be experienced by some as an accusation.

Having said that, when I’m interviewing candidates, I’m really wanting to understand their “Why”.

Why do they want this job, why does it make sense in their career trajectory, why will it provide the stimulation to keep them committed and engaged. Typically, I’ll ask these as “How” or “What” questions, and I’m genuinely interested. It is genuine, and that’s what makes it my superpower.