top of page
Search

Keep It Fresh

Writer's picture: Chuck CusumanoChuck Cusumano

By Chuck Cusumano and Jillian Broaddus



A business duo quite keen,

With curiosity as their routine,

They’d ask and explore,

Innovate more and more,

So their success was simply unseen!

 

Is this an original limerick from The Joshua Group, you ask. Yes, in honor of a topic we’re quite interested in: Curiosity!

 

We did a post on the topic several years ago explaining why curiosity is such a wonderful trait to cultivate. Today, we wanted to dig a little deeper into how to increase your curiosity.

 

We believe that curiosity is a powerful catalyst for personal growth, learning, and interpersonal connections. It enriches our cognitive abilities, enhances our emotional intelligence, and strengthens our relationships.

 

What we want to focus on in this blog is the ability to leverage curiosity to build and sustain meaningful relationships. Whether it is a business partnership, a friendship, or someone you just want to know better, the willingness to be curious about the person across from you is the key to keeping a relationship fresh (hence the title of this blog) and growing in the right direction.

 

So, let’s make sure we have a good working definition of what we believe curiosity is before we jump into how to leverage it. We define “curiosity” as a strong desire to know or learn something. It is a fundamental human trait that drives exploration and knowledge acquisition. We will go so far as to say that curiosity is the driving force behind human progress and innovation, as well as an integral part of interpersonal connections.

 

So, that is what curiosity is. Now, let’s talk about working with it.

 

First, a few curiosity killers:

 

  1. You focus all on yourself. If your mindset when you are interacting with another person is all about what you did, what you want, or what your experience was, then you have missed the whole definition. It should be about the desire to learn and gain knowledge. It is almost impossible to learn something when you are the one doing all the talking.

  2. You consider yourself an expert on any subject. If you know everything, why would you seek out knowledge? What could you possibly learn? Even if you truly are highly skilled in an area, the moment you believe there is nothing more to learn or experience is the moment you have lost your curiosity. People change, situations change, and new information grows at an exponential rate. The partnership, the friendship, the client, and any relationship becomes stale when you believe you have seen or heard it all before.

  3. You succumb to confirmation bias. Consciously or subconsciously – if you are only open to hearing points of view that you already agree with, then you will never expand your knowledge. We live in a dangerous time in history; we are all victims of our own echo chambers. What you search for on your phone or laptop is what you will be sent more of the next time you search. We are all generating our own algorithms deeper and deeper in the same tube of information. Read an article and you will get more articles in your feed dealing with that topic. We must be intentional to seek out different points of views and embrace areas of diversity in our relationships.

 

Here's how you can overcome these curiosity killers to develop curiosity as a superpower:

 

  1. Be the person that is always asking questions. The amount of speaking you do in a conversation should be disproportionately weighted toward asking open-ended questions. If you are doing most of the talking, then you are not the curious one. Your goal is to learn what the other person thinks and why they think the way they do – not to judge, but to understand. If you are curious enough, then you will increase your empathy as a natural byproduct of your quest for knowledge. More empathy = more Emotional Intelligence = better relationship skills!

  2. Listen intently and ask clarifying questions so the other person knows you understand and are processing what they are saying. You are not listening for your turn to speak. You are listening to learn and to gain knowledge. Your curiosity will be synonymous with interest and showing interest is synonymous with engagement. After all, who does not want a relationship where the other person shows interest in who we are and what we like, want, and think?

  3. Seek out diverse perspectives and topics. How else are you going to learn something new and explore a different way of thinking if you do not intentionally seek out areas of differences? Do not shy away from differences; rather, go headfirst into a conversation as to the ideas and thoughts that make up a different solution, a different way of doing things, or a different point of view. You do not have to agree with the other person’s point of view; you are just seeking to understand how they came to that point of view to increase your awareness of how they see and experience the world. The more you learn to predict why a person may feel the way they do, the better you can regulate how you present information to them.

  4. Build a habit of asking “why” and “how” questions. 

  • “Why do you believe it happened that way?”

  • “How did you decide to go there on vacation?”

  • “How did that make you feel?”

  • “Why do you not respond to phone calls? How would you prefer we communicate?”

  • “Why did you decide to go to school there?”

The key to asking great questions is to get at the motivation of the decision or action. Once you know how or why (or what and when), then you will have a much better understanding of what the motivation is for that person. That will help you understand them better and predict how they may respond in any situation.

 

Curiosty is more than a trait or skill; it is a way of being that can profoundly impact our lives and relationships. By nurturing our curiosity and fostering it in our interactions with others, we can create a more empathetic, innovative, exciting and connected world for ourselves and those around us. So, keep it fresh! Keep it alive! Write a limerick if you need to! And if you are still stuck in a funk and cannot bring more curiosity, interest, and engagement to your friendships, partnerships, or clients and customers, then give us a shout at hello@thejoshuagroup.net and we may write a limerick for you!


19 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page