I consider being curious an essential leadership skill, and actually an essential life skill. When we approach a person or a situation with curiosity it is difficult (not impossible) to be judging at the same time. Curiosity is abundant in our childhood. It’s the way we learn about life, through questioning and investigating. The classic three-year-old’s question is a curious one, ‘Why?’

That gets set aside soon enough as school and society make demands on us about ‘knowing.’ This is only amplified as we settle into careers. We develop some level of experience and expertise that enables us to ‘know.’ In some situations it’s vitally important that we know. However, in too many instances we apply the ‘knowing’ when we really don’t know, or we use our ‘knowing’ from one situation and paste it onto a new situation without really knowing about the new one.

When we approach conversations from the vantage point of ‘not knowing’ or curiosity, we open up new possibilities and we learn things we may not know, or we see things from a new perspective we hadn’t held before. Leading and learning go hand in hand, and one of the easiest ways to learn is to be curious, ask questions and listen completely to the answer.

Another plus to approaching a person with curiosity is the response you get. If your curiosity is truly without judgment or assumptions or ‘knowing,’ you will get a warm reception. Most of us like to talk about ourselves and we respond well when asked questions that stem from genuine curiosity. That warm response can lead to an open conversation and some new ideas for you.

I encourage you to be more curious each day, whether it be with people you’ve known for a long time or someone you’ve just met. Either way, imagine that you don’t know anything about them, and ask curious questions to learn something about them that you didn’t ‘know.’ Set your expectations and your ‘knowing’ aside and see what ensues. You might just have some interesting conversations, and you might learn something new, something you can use in a new way. Whether you are an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur you are searching for new ideas or new angles that you can use to make things even better than they are. Being curious is one of the tools that can help you find them.

If you choose to work with my in Chrysalis Leadership Coaching, you’ll find I’ll be curious about you. It’s how I learn about where you are right now, what led you to this place, and your ideas about where you want to go.

Curiosity opens new pathways to progress. Try approaching two or three conversations that you’ll have today with an open curious attitude, and see what happens. Let me know how it goes for you by e-mailing me at [email protected]. If you would like to spend some time in the coaching chrysalis with me, e-mail me your interest and we will set a time to talk to see if it fits for you. I look forward to hearing from you.

Feel free to share this Emerge! Blog post with others you think might enjoy it. When you do, please include this paragraph. Chrysalis Leadership Coaching is a leadership coaching and consulting firm in North Carolina, working with entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs to develop their inner resources and skills to move to new levels of leadership. We approach every client as an individual with strengths and growth areas that can be magnified with the appropriate techniques. Ginny Blair is a catalyst for individuals and teams within organizations to discover and develop their inner leadership qualities and apply them in growing and prospering. Ginny helps to identify and expand individual abilities and support greater effectiveness in life and leadership. She is a certified coach and organizational development consultant who creates a supportive and encouraging environment for personal and professional growth.