Leadership & The Value Of An Inquiring Mind

Remember when you were a kid and asked questions like bullets coming out of a gun?  Why is the sky blue? How come fish can breathe in the ocean? Why does the lady next door always wear that silly hat with the big red feather? Curiosity was something that once came naturally to us, something perhaps, that also came from a thirst for life and a need to explore.

Over time, many of us learned to be more discreet. We learned to mind our own business because it was polite.  And, along with all of that went a great deal of this natural drive to know about things and people.  In fact, as we grew, we came to understand that the world could be a pretty scary place and so we put aside much of our curiosity and sought safety instead.

But an inquiring mind is an invaluable leadership tool.

Often, when combined with courage, it fuels exploration, change, growth, challenge and any number of interesting possibilities.

It prompts us to ask bold questions.  Why do we do things this way instead of that? What does the future hold? How can we make what’s old, new again?  What don’t we know?

Seth Godin, speaks here about curiosity in this short film by Nic Askew.  He is eloquent…and curious

http://vimeo.com/2873717

Watching this film, I realize that my own curiosity muscle, while healthy enough, is not as strong as I would like it to be.  And, the older I get the more I know that I don’t know very much at all. I’m going to work on it.  How about you?

What are you curious about?