“Curiosity killed the cat.”
We all heard the saying. It’s meant to say that being overly inquisitive or experimentative might be dangerous, or even deadly.
But what I see is a workplace environment overtly lacking in curiosity. So much so, that when I see it, I can’t help but be amazed and admire the quality. I find curiosity to be sexy even.
Without curiosity there is little desire to learn other than self-promotion, so there is little “cross-over” of ideas that can lead to different or novel ideas. Without curiosity there is no desire to ask why and just take things as they come at face value.
Curiosity is asking why. When things go wrong, or even when they go right. It’s asking, how could this be even better.
In workplaces, it’s rare to find a genuinely curious person. But when you do, it’s easy to identify them.
They’re always trying something new, taking something apart, figuring out how something works, putting it back together better than before.
They’re the ones saying, “Hey, what if we do this”, or “Hey, look what I did.”
They’re the ones coming up with ideas, while others just do what others did before.
Curiosity cannot be learned or taught. It must come from a place of deepest desire.
We need curiosity more than ever now because people are having problems thinking for themselves. We need to figure out why and how to fix it.