Certain Uncertainty

12Developing a Curious Culture at Work

Diane Hamilton

Curiosity is a key factor in the success of leaders from all walks of life: it helps them relate to the people and circumstances around them and seek out novel points of views and solutions. Organizations that embed curiosity in their culture also do better in terms of innovation and resilience. But how do you foster curiosity at a personal and organizational level?

When I started to research and write about curiosity, I began to recognize that I needed to do more than write about what it means to be curious. If my goal was to get people to be more curious, I needed to learn what inhibited curiosity. That required years of research and learning much more than I had ever anticipated about the things that hold us back at work.

What Is Curiosity?

I am often asked to define what I mean by curiosity. I look at curiosity as getting out of status‐quo behaviors. We know from the Kodaks of the world that we can't rest on our laurels and hope that what worked in the past will work in the future. We must look beyond our cubicles, silos, and sometimes our industries. That can be a challenge when people hang onto the high they felt from something that worked well in the past. That is why leaders must recognize the link curiosity has with almost everything they want to accomplish at work.

I like to think of developing curiosity, like baking a cake. If you want to bake a cake, you mix ingredients such as flour, eggs, and oil, put the ...