Next Level Leadership: Curiosity

Picture this:

I'm working with a CEO who is struggling with a specific problem: her executive team wouldn't bring her bad news.

They'd present polished updates in meetings. They'd say everything was "on track." They'd nod when she asked if there were any concerns.

And then, weeks later, she'd discover that projects were failing, timelines were slipping, and her team had been struggling in silence.

"Why don't they just tell me what's actually happening?" she asked.

I asked her: "When was the last time you responded to a problem with curiosity instead of a solution?"

She paused.

"I'm not sure I ever have."

We've Trained Leaders to Have Answers, Not Questions

Somewhere along the way, we decided that leadership means having all the answers.

The best leaders are the ones who can make fast decisions, solve problems quickly, and project unwavering confidence.

Curiosity — asking questions, admitting you don't know, exploring before deciding — gets coded as weakness.

But the research tells a very different story.

What the Data Shows About Curiosity

Curiosity makes teams more innovative.

A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that when leaders model curiosity, their teams are more creative and come up with better solutions to complex problems. Why? Because curiosity signals psychological safety. When a leader asks genuine questions instead of immediately providing answers, team members feel permission to think, explore, and contribute ideas without fear of judgment. (HBR, 2018)

Curiosity reduces decision-making errors.

Research from the University of California found that curious people make fewer decision-making errors. They're more likely to consider alternative perspectives, gather more information before deciding, and avoid confirmation bias. In leadership, this translates to better strategic decisions and fewer costly mistakes. (UC Berkeley, 2015)

Curiosity strengthens relationships and trust.

A study in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology showed that when people approach conversations with genuine curiosity — asking follow-up questions, expressing interest in others' perspectives — they're perceived as more trustworthy and approachable. In organizational settings, this translates directly to team cohesion and engagement. (Huang et al., 2017)

Curiosity correlates with higher performance.

Research by Merck found that business units with leaders who scored high on curiosity metrics had significantly better financial performance than those with less curious leaders. Curious leaders created environments where people felt safe to experiment, which led to more innovation and better results. (Gino, 2018)

Curiosity reduces burnout and increases resilience.

A 2021 study in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that people who maintain curiosity in stressful situations experience less burnout and recover faster from setbacks. In high-pressure leadership environments, curiosity acts as a buffer against exhaustion because it reframes challenges as opportunities to learn rather than threats to manage.

But Here's What We're Doing Instead

Despite all this evidence, most leadership development still focuses on building confidence, decisiveness, and executive presence.

We teach leaders to:

• Make fast decisions
• Project certainty
• Have the answers
• Lead with conviction

We don't teach them to:

• Ask better questions
• Sit with uncertainty
• Say "I don't know"
• Lead with curiosity

And the cost is massive.

What Happens When Leaders Stop Being Curious

When leaders lose curiosity, organizations suffer in predictable ways:

Teams stop bringing problems forward.
If your first response to a challenge is to solve it, fix it, or assign blame, people learn to hide problems until they become crises. Curiosity — asking "What happened? What did you try? What do you think we should do?" — creates the safety for honest reporting.

Innovation stalls.
If every conversation ends with the leader's predetermined answer, why would anyone bother contributing ideas? Curiosity signals: "I don't have all the answers. Your thinking matters here."

Blind spots multiply.
Leaders who stop asking questions stop learning. They make decisions based on outdated assumptions. They miss signals that their teams are picking up. They become increasingly disconnected from reality.

Trust erodes.
When you approach every conversation with answers instead of questions, people feel managed, not seen. Over time, this erodes the very trust that makes leadership possible.

Curiosity Isn't Passive — It's a Leadership Skill

Let me be clear: curiosity is not about being indecisive.

It's not about avoiding hard calls or deferring to consensus.

Curiosity is about gathering real information before you decide.

It's about creating the conditions where people tell you the truth.

It's about staying open to perspectives that challenge your assumptions.

And yes — it's about being willing to say "I don't know" without feeling like you've lost authority.

What Curiosity Looks Like in Practice

In a strategic planning meeting:

Instead of: "Here's the direction we're going."
Try: "What are we not seeing? What could we be missing?"

In a one-on-one with a struggling team member:

Instead of: "Here's what you need to do differently."
Try: "What's getting in your way? What support would actually help?"

In a moment of conflict:

Instead of: "Here's why you're wrong."
Try: "Help me understand your thinking. What am I missing?"

In a high-stakes decision:

Instead of: "I've decided."
Try: "Before we finalize this, what questions should we be asking that we're not?"

The Deeper Work: Curiosity Requires Regulation

Here's the part most people miss:

You can't be curious when your nervous system is activated.

When you're in fight-or-flight mode — when you're feeling threatened, defensive, or pressured to have all the answers — curiosity becomes physiologically impossible.

Your brain narrows. You default to what you already know. You move toward certainty because uncertainty feels dangerous.

This is why curiosity isn't just a mindset shift.

It's a nervous system practice.

To stay curious under pressure, you need to:

• Regulate your physiological response to uncertainty
• Tolerate the discomfort of not knowing
• Stay grounded when someone challenges your thinking
• Remain open when your instinct is to defend

This is the work we do in SPEAK.

Not just teaching people to ask better questions.

But training their nervous systems to stay regulated enough to remain curious — even in high-stakes, high-pressure moments.

Because all the intellectual commitment to curiosity in the world doesn't help if your body shuts it down the moment things get difficult.

We Need Curious Leaders

Here's what I believe:

The leaders who will navigate the complexity of the next decade won't be the ones with all the answers.

They'll be the ones who know how to ask the right questions.

The ones who can stay curious when everyone else is demanding certainty.

The ones who create environments where people feel safe to say "I don't know — let's figure it out together."

Because the challenges we're facing — organizationally, culturally, globally — are too complex for any one person to solve.

We need leaders who can collaborate.
Who can listen across difference.
Who can hold multiple perspectives without collapsing into binary thinking.

And all of that starts with curiosity.

A Question for You

When was the last time you approached a difficult conversation with genuine curiosity instead of a predetermined answer?

When was the last time you said "I don't know" and meant it?

When was the last time you asked a question you didn't already know the answer to?

If it's been a while — you're not alone.

But you might be missing the very thing that could unlock your next level of leadership.

Curiosity isn't a soft skill.

It's the skill that makes everything else possible.

Trust. Innovation. Resilience. Real influence.

And it's completely trainable.