Pacesetter Matrix - Curiosity
20 Two North has identified eight characteristics that pacesetting performers demonstrate.
CURIOSITY
INNOVATION
ADAPTABILITY
PASSION
EMPATHY
AUTHENTICITY
RESILIENCE
COLLABORATION
We believe these credentials are significant indicators of what distinguishes high-performing / high-potential talents from their peers. In part one of the eight-part series we explore CURIOSITY.
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
― Albert Einstein
When interviewed by PWC for their Annual Global CEO Survey, Michael Dell (CEO of Dell Technologies, 34th on the Fortune 500) responded that curiosity is the attribute he considers most critical for CEOs.
What is curiosity?
Curiosity inspires us to seek out fresh perspectives, to challenge our own thoughts, and advance our knowledge. The modern world is evolving at a rate of change quicker than ever before. This presents unprecedented challenges and opportunities. The key to overcoming challenges and seizing opportunities stems from the same human characteristic; curiosity.
Professor Sophie von Stumm, Ph.D. describes curiosity as a multi-dimensional construct that rests on four key pillars:
Joyous Exploration The pleasure of seeking out new information and engaging in novel experiences, and the subsequent joy of learning and growing. Joyous Exploration is pivotal for workers to successfully respond to new professional challenges and to find meaning and satisfaction in their work.
Deprivation Sensitivity Reflects the unpleasant state of uncertainty that persists until a gap between what we know and what we want to know is closed or resolved. It drives us to google the answer to a question on our smartphone, while we’re still engaged in a conversation, or to pick up a thought, days–sometimes even weeks–after we've first encountered it. Deprivation Sensitivity is key to acknowledging the gaps in our knowledge and arguments and thus, it is the very stepping-stone to thoroughly investigating a question or issue.
Stress Tolerance Refers to the willingness to embrace the doubt, confusion, anxiety, and other forms of distress that arise from exploring new and uncertain terrains. This aspect of curiosity provides us with the resilience and strength to combine our existing knowledge with new information – a process that frequently causes us to change our original interpretation of a situation or context and subsequently, to alter our behaviour.
Openness to People’s Ideas Our appreciation of diverse perspectives and approaches from the people that surround us. Openness to People's Ideas helps us to be compassionate and tolerant toward one another and to embrace our diversity. In the workplace, Openness to People's Ideas also enriches the development and implementation of our problem-solving strategies by combining our own with others' ideas, while ensuring that our solutions are suitable across different people and contexts.
Why curiosity?
Research published by Harvard Business Review illustrated that 85% of surveyed CEOs consider their organisations to be poor at diagnosing problems, consequently incurring significant costs for the business. By asking more questions, solutions can be better designed. Famed professor and business management guru Peter Drucker placed knowing the right questions to ask at the core of his philosophy on strategic thinking.
“We run this company on questions, not answers.”
- Eric Schmidt, Google (CEO 2001-2011)
What are the benefits of curiosity?
London Business School analysed the successful evolution of Microsoft under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadella. Enthusiastically embracing a curiosity mindset dramatically improved Microsoft’s culture and the company's performance. In just 4 years, the results were outstanding: a more engaged workforce, a CEO with a 95% employee approval rating, and a booming global business, making the company the most valuable in the world during 2019.
People who are naturally inquisitive tend to ask more questions, learn more, and faster. Curiosity can make it easier to adapt to changing environments, settle into a new job, work successfully with new management, and solve problems.
Curiosity has been proven to yield tangible benefits, including:
Fewer decision-making errors
More innovation and positive changes
Reduced conflict
More open communication
Better team performance
A study published in the Journal of Personality, examined the impact of curiosity in social situations, with the results demonstrating that curiosity can be linked to:
Greater tolerance
Non-critical attitudes
Unconventional thinking
A sense of humour
What impacts curiosity?
In her book, Cracking the Curiosity Code, Dr. Hamilton identifies four factors that impact curiosity:
Fear - that our ideas will be ignored, or seen as foolish
Assumption - the voice in our heads that talks us out of asking, that tells us we already know the answer or that someone else does
Technology - a threat to the norms we’re accustomed to, a fear that we are no longer in control of our situation, the intimidation of change
Environment - closed-minded culture, asking questions is discouraged, the status quo is expected and maintained
How curious are you? Take Merck’s self evaluation to find out.
https://www.merckgroup.com/en/selftest/
