I easily recall the adage that curiosity killed the cat. It never really made all that much sense. Was it meant to be cautionary? Was I getting an ill-conceived message to accept the status quo? Maybe the message was about not getting too involved in the inner workings or decisions of a situation. Layer that with a favorite children’s book character, Curious George. The monkey who seemed to always find himself in a sticky situation – due to his curiosity – and invariably rescued by the Man in the Yellow Hat.
I think we have been approaching it all wrong and sending the wrong message to children and adults of all ages. For me, curiosity is vital to challenging conventional thinking, developing new ideas, or innovating. At a very core level, curiosity is about discovery. I hope never to lose the sense of curiosity and the pleasure of learning or seeing something new. I still get the child-like giddiness when it all comes together, and I can both the big picture and all the details. There are plenty of ways to incorporate curiosity into our professional environments.