Page 110 - Harvard Business Review, Sep/Oct 2018

SPOTLIGHT THE BUSINESS CASE FOR CURIOSITY

When we are curious, we view tough situations more

creatively and have less defensive reactions to stress.

credited curious people with bringing for the masses. By 1908 he had realized In 2004 an anonymous billboard appeared
new ideas into teams and organizations that vision with the introduction of the on Highway 101, in the heart of Silicon
and viewed curiosity as a catalyst for job Model T. Demand grew so high that by Valley, posing this puzzle: “{first 10-digit
satisfaction, motivation, innovation, and 1921 the company was producing 56% of prime found in consecutive digits of
high performance. all passenger cars in the United States—a e}.com.” The answer, 7427466391.com,
Yet executives’ actions often tell a remarkable success made possible led the curious online, where they found
different story. True, some organizations, primarily by the firm’s efficiency-centered another equation to solve. The handful of
including 3M and Facebook, give employees model of work. But in the late 1920s, as people who did so were invited to submit a
free time to pursue their interests, but they the U.S. economy rose to new heights, résumé to Google. The company took this
are rare. And even in such organizations, consumers started wanting greater variety unusual approach to finding job candidates
employees often have challenging short- in their cars. While Ford remained fixated because it places a premium on curiosity.
term performance goals (such as meeting on improving the Model T, competitors (People didn’t even need to be engineers!)
a quarterly sales target or launching a new such as General Motors started producing As Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO from 2001
product by a certain date) that consume the an array of models and soon captured the to 2011, has said, “We run this company on
“free time” they could have spent exploring main share of the market. Owing to its questions, not answers.”
alternative approaches to their work or single-minded focus on efficiency, Ford Google also identifies naturally curious
coming up with innovative ideas. stopped experimenting and innovating people through interview questions such
Two tendencies restrain leaders from and fell behind. as these: “Have you ever found yourself
encouraging curiosity: These leadership tendencies help unable to stop learning something you’ve
They have the wrong mindset about explain why our curiosity usually declines never encountered before? Why? What
exploration. Leaders often think that the longer we’re in a job. In one survey, I kept you persistent?” The answers usually
letting employees follow their curiosity will asked about 250 people who had recently highlight either a specific purpose driving
lead to a costly mess. In a recent survey I started working for various companies a the candidate’s inquiry (“It was my job to
conducted of 520 chief learning officers and series of questions designed to measure find the answer”) or genuine curiosity
chief talent development officers, I found curiosity; six months later I administered (“I just had to figure out the answer”).
that they often shy away from encouraging a follow-up survey. Although initial levels IDEO, the design and consulting
curiosity because they believe the company of curiosity varied, after six months company, seeks to hire “T-shaped”
would be harder to manage if people were everyone’s curiosity had dropped, with the employees: people with deep skills that
allowed to explore their own interests. average decline exceeding 20%. Because allow them to contribute to the creative
They also believe that disagreements people were under pressure to complete process (the vertical stroke of the T) and
would arise and making and executing their work quickly, they had little time to a predisposition for collaboration across
decisions would slow down, raising the ask questions about broad processes or disciplines, a quality requiring empathy
cost of doing business. Research finds overall goals. and curiosity (the horizontal stroke of the
that although people list creativity as a T). The firm understands that empathy
goal, they frequently reject creative ideas and curiosity are related: Empathy allows
when actually presented with them. FIVE WAYS TO BOLSTER CURIOSITY employees to listen thoughtfully and
That’s understandable: Exploration It takes thought and discipline to stop see problems or decisions from another
often involves questioning the status stifling curiosity and start fostering it. person’s perspective, while curiosity
quo and doesn’t always produce useful Here are five strategies leaders can employ. extends to interest in other people’s
Ford focused all his efforts on one goal: 1 to practice them. And it recognizes that
information. But it also means not settling
disciplines, so much so that one may start
for the first possible solution—and so it
most people perform at their best not
often yields better remedies.
They seek efficiency to the detriment
because they’re specialists but because
their deep skill is accompanied by an
of exploration. In the early 1900s Henry
questions, explore, and collaborate.
reducing production costs to create a car Hire for curiosity. intellectual curiosity that leads them to ask

52 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2018