The power of curiosity and why inquisition leads to growth
“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” — Albert Einstein
Leonardo Da Vinci was the owner of a notebook sprawling with scientific, observational, and ordinary-interest notes; Walt Disney dove deeper into his interest in animation and made his way to the peak of animatics, cinema, and entertainment; Steve Jobs “thinkered” his way through the invention of the computer and rose to lead the top technology company, Apple Inc. Withstanding the test of time and evolving societies, one trait among these thought leaders shines above the rest. Curiosity, the exploration to know “why” and “how,” is the premise of Ian Leslie’s masterful and thoughtful book. Curiosity, an innate and powerful human drive, propels us to set about our own journey of discovery and understanding.”
According to Leslie, there are three different branches stemming from the Tree of Curiosity. When our curiosity is split into many different directions and we desire to know all about whatever is new and novel, we are practicing our diversive curiosity. Today, we are flooded by information via Twitter, news outlets, attention-grabbing headlines, and blog posts in areas that capture our interest. Diversive curiosity pushes us to explore all the novelties; it explains why we wish to travel to several different places and meet all types of people; diversive curiosity is not satisfied by exploring one particular topic for too long. Because diversive curiosity only touches the tips of information, we usually don’t wade in those waters too deeply. In other words, we do not glean insights or a deeper understanding under the diversive lense.
Cue the introduction of diversive curiosity’s older sibling, epistemic curiosity. This transformation between diverse and epistemic curiosity is how we are able to shift gears from jumping topic to topic, to maintaining effortful focus. We allow our knowledge on the issue to expand and dig deeply into its foundation. Epistemic curiosity is exploring, navigating, and discovering the undiscovered, and then bringing insights to light. It takes time, effort, and a powerful will to learn and think critically.
The third and final branch of curiosity is empathic curiosity. How can we be curious and empathic simultaneously? The two valuable qualities are meshed together into one running definition: curiosity about the feelings and thoughts of others. Many of us have surely heard the often-spoken phrase, “Put yourself in his (or her) shoes.” Metaphorically, walking in someone else’s shoes is seeing situations from their perspective; it is understanding how they are thinking, feeling, and processing. Having empathic curiosity employs a richer, more meaningful interest in a person. Leslie says that “empathic curiosity makes you wonder why” people choose an occupation, pursue a hobby, or have preferences for a cuisine.
Leslie also presents an argument for the collaboration and intertwining of empathic and epistemic curiosity. We come in contact with more educated and experienced people who know more than we do; we want to reap the benefits by learning what they know in order to fill in our own knowledge gaps. The senior-level manager may choose to feed their younger colleague with growth in the form of information, or they can choose to go about their business and not share the wisdom. Passing on the curiosity is vital at all levels — whether it’s the exchange between a mother and her baby, a boss and his employee, or a business and their client — but the passing-down of curiosity isn’t enough itself. We also must practice empathy in the form of understanding others in order to discover possible solutions.
There are things we know, things we don’t know, and things we want to know. Sometimes we have information stored in our brains through experience and learning, but we often do not know much about all that there is to know. George Loewenstein, a renowned behavioral economist, describes this empty space of knowledge waiting to be filled as the information gap. If the information gap is the call for knowledge, curiosity is the response. We want to fill in the gap that lies between what we know and what we want to know. Our curiosity guides us along the way in this pursuit. Interestingly, we are most curious and more likely to pursue a curious mind when we are in the “zone of proximal learning.” Dubbed, for simplicity, as the curiosity zone, this space lies between too little knowledge and too much knowledge. Think about it as the Goldilocks to curiosity — When we don’t know anything about a topic, we are more likely to be incurious. Similarly, too much knowledge discourages curiosity since we feel we already know what there is to learn. One is more likely to pursue their curiosity when their knowledge about a topic is medium.
This curiosity zone also applies to our level of confidence; following the Goldilocks analogy, if Goldilocks is highly confident in her breadth of knowledge, her curiosity will freeze. If she is too uncertain, her confidence will also be at a stand still. When Goldilocks has confidence that is “just right” (the zone of proximal learning), her curiosity will flourish.
We are currently living in the age of availability. This term might sound like a sci-fi, hyper-technological, and exponentially-advanced war to describe regular, 21st century life. And, in short, it is. We now have access to any bit of information we can ever think of. Google, Wikipedia, IMDb, Facebook, and a plethora of popular information-filled websites feed us with answers to our questions. But how much feeding is too much, getting us to a point of “empty fullness” where we instantly satisfy our question but don’t really glean any insight from it? The internet is an instantaneous click-and-an-answer away; it impedes on our exploration of the world of the unknown by providing us with answers without giving us time to think more deeply and critically about the topic. The age of availability puts a stop sign on the natural flow of curiosity; instead of letting our minds flow down a stream of thoughts and ideas, the World Wide Web hands us the answer on a silver platter.
Leslie calls for an acknowledgement of the difference between a mystery and a puzzle. First, if you can imagine a puzzle, whether it be 1000 pieces or 20, you know that there is going to be certain pieces placed in specific locations to complete the pre-destined larger picture; essentially, a puzzle is one-way road into putting together many small things into one large, clear representation. However, now imagine a mystery. What do you think of? The complex and varying stories by the great Agatha Christie? Perhaps the lesser known British TV show, Midsomer Murders, where Detective Barnaby goes town to town solving crimes where he has to dig into the mystery of the murder to bring justice to the victims. Does Sherlock Holmes come to mind? All of these mysteries have something in common — the answers aren’t so neat and clean, and involve higher thinking to narrow in on the relevant factors. Mysteries might also lead us to places unknown; while we ponder and question the variables, we may find ourselves astray from the original path of thinking. Taking a different thought-process path might lead to the innovation, the unique results, and the answer that exceptionally fits the mystery. At Olson Zaltman, our projects are our mysteries and the answers might not always be so clear. We are the detectives calling on our pools of knowledge, yet also wading into the waters of the unknown. Exploration into the depths of mystery opens up locked and vaulted doors of information and insights.
There are several profound implications for marketers and marketing research professionals.
First, there is the call to move beyond our overconfidence in what we know, and to actively seek out more information and new angles. This will only come about with an ongoing exploration mindset and the humility to understand that there is more to know and understand.
Second, we often view the work we do as having conclusions or end-points. Too often, we have a transactional mindset that a solution to a problem or an answer to a question can be had with any given insights project or marketing research study. Given the nature of our consumer questions — and the inherent complexity of human behavior — it would behoove us to see our challenges as mysteries and not puzzles. A new piece of insight will not “solve” a puzzle, but instead will help us see solutions that will help us understand our mysterious consumers better than our competition.
Lastly, curiosity is not something to overcome or satiate, but is a worthwhile end in itself. Curiosity is the fuel that drives the engines of creativity and passion. Bringing curiosity to our work and our lives will allow us to not only do better work, but transform the work as a more enjoyable adventure rather than a series of continuous milestones on a never-ending journey.
Danielle Schwartz is an Insight Associate at Olson Zaltman
