Curiosity is a Leadership Superpower

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Those who have read this newsletter for some time will know I’m fond of writing about leadership superpowers. The items which, if cultivated meticulously, are the difference between good leaders and great ones.

Humor, optimism, competence. All are traits which help you not only better yourself but become a better leader. Add to that our fourth leadership superpower, curiosity. Long one of my favorite items to screen for in hiring, curiosity is equally as powerful within a leadership context.

Curiosity is a leadership superpower for three reasons:

1. It is the foundation of EQ

2. It is core to continuous improvement

3. It leads to a better problem solving

The foundation of EQ

There is no more powerful way to create authentic connections than to be genuinely interested in those you lead or work with. While Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People is sometimes criticized as being disingenuous this never struck me as a fair reading of the text. He’s been stressing genuine interest in others through curiosity since 1936 and I still believe this is the greatest way to cultivate effective EQ.

There is nothing more interesting to me than trying to find what someone is uniquely passionate about. If you can do so you’ll not only build a stronger relationship with them, but also get taught something new in the process.

True, genuine curiosity is a sign of a low ego. This low ego curiosity is the formula to developing EQ.

Where can you be more genuinely interested in those you lead not to serve your own needs, but simply to learn?

The core of continuous improvement

Curious people are itinerant tinkerers. Traveling from one idea or interest to another as they constantly seek to do things in more efficient or effective ways. All great leaders are mad scientists in their own right.

Curiosity is often the source of energy which propels advancement. Starting with little more than, “huh, I wonder if” which launches you into a near obsessive pursuit of doing something differently in service of making it better.

It’s hard to compete with someone who is consistently trying to learn more about the world and apply those learnings to make their team more effective. That person, and their team, will be constantly in motion while their competition stagnates.

Better problem solving

In line with continuous improvement curious people are generalists in the best sense of the term. David Epstein makes this exact point in his book Range going through example after example of instances where a generalist who, “ranges widely” is able to pull ideas and solutions from a broad set of domains to solve problems within their own.

Much of my admiration for Charlie Munger comes from his love of learning concepts outside of finance which he uses in pursuit of making better investment decisions. Munger who refers to his approach to thinking, fueled by insatiable curiosity, as “Worldly Wisdom” aptly said, “I believe in the discipline of mastering the best that other people have ever figured out. I don’t believe in just sitting down trying to dream it all up yourself. Nobody’s that smart.”

The great news, if you’re a curious person, you don’t have to be that smart because you can uncover and apply what other people already figured out to the problems you and your team face. This ability to pull from a broad set of experiences beyond just your own lived experience makes it infinitely easier to solve problems and look much smarter than you actually are.

At its core, that ability comes from genuine curiosity.

Cultivating curiosity

To better cultivate curiosity in your own life I recommend two tactical items:

1. Read broadly

2. Talk to interesting people and actually listen

I’ve been obsessed with reading since I first picked up Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Waterson is still one of the world’s greatest philosophers) and while there are many leadership lessons to be found in a thorough reading of Calvin and Hobbes (sounds like a worthy blog post!) reading beyond the comics of your youth is probably a good idea also.

Reading broadly and working to apply those learnings to your own life is a great way to cultivate your curiosity.

Talking to interesting people and actually listening to them is equally as effective when it comes to cultivating curiosity. All the better if the people you’re speaking with work in fields or have hobbies different from your own. In these instances the goal should always be to talk as little about yourself as possible such that you can genuinely learn something from another. Friends, family, strangers, it doesn’t matter. There are lessons to be learned everywhere if we start looking for them.

Curious people can’t help but look.

Conclusion

So there it is our fourth leadership superpower, curiosity.

Curiosity is a leadership imperative because it is the foundation of EQ which helps build authentic connections, it leads to continuous improvement, and it helps you solve problems more effectively.

To cultivate curiosity in your own life read broadly, talk to interesting people, and listen.

What are you curious about? How can you learn something new from someone this weekend?

See y’all next week.