“When was the last time someone changed your mind?”
When book author and friend Dr. Deb Clary asked me this question, I had to pause and think.
It’s a great question for any manager or leader to ask themselves — especially now in the age of AI where everything is moving so fast. This is no time to be stuck.
I wanted to interview Deb about her new book called, The Curiosity Curve, because it’s clear to me (and I assume most of us by now) that all job roles are being re-imagined in the wake of AI and the era of efficiency it has spawned.
If ever there was a moment in time to be curious, it’s right now — this very minute. What we don’t know matters more than what we do know. The only way to find out what we don’t know is to be curious about everything.
I write this newsletter to help managers adapt to the new realities of managing today, especially when managing millennial and gen-z employees. After talking to Deb about her new book, I realized how important curiosity is to re-imaging work in an AI world. So this week, I’m devoting my newsletter to helping managers understand what it takes to be more curious.
The good news according to Deb? “Curiosity can be learned; it’s not innate.”
Curiosity is a Mindset
Ok, I thought curiosity was innate, like some people had a curiosity gene of sorts. Instead, it’s a mindset, according to Deb.
“Curious managers play the long-game,” Deb tells me. “They know every interaction with their people is a chance to learn something from someone.”
This is the part about being curious that can be learned: Ask a lot of questions. Over and over in the interview, Deb stresses the importance of asking questions.
“Managers who play the short game see every interaction is like a transaction — and want to give you the answer to every problem,” she says. What Deb is telling me really resonates: today’s managers have too much to do, in not enough time. Managers have twice the direct reports today when compared to boomer era managers, for example.
It’s easy to “the expert” to solve every problem for your team. It seems like a faster way to get things done — but is it really a better way to get things done?
My experience as a manager has taught me otherwise. Asking questions is motivating to your people; and motivation creates discretionary effort that ultimately leads to innovation and productivity.
I really like Deb’s focus on how to interact with employees when they come to you as a manager to talk about a problem, issue or opportunity. I love this suggestion from her: “The next time a direct report comes to discuss something, ask them this: ‘How long have you been thinking about this?’”
Deb blows my mind with this fact: “When we were kids, we asked on average 298 questions a day.” As a adults: “We ask on average 5 questions a day.”
Homework: How Managers Can Practice Curiosity
What I like about the The Curiosity Curve is how practical it is. While Deb did a fair bit of research to better understand curiosity, it isn’t a wonky book. It’s packed with tools to take action.
If curiosity can be learned or practiced, how do you do that a manager?
When I asked Deb to share tips from the book about how managers can be more curious, she highlighted three:
Practice curiosity in meetings: “We all spend a lot time in meetings and they’re a great way to show the people on the team that you are open to news ideas and learning new perspectives.” She recommends that managers ask two questions at the start of every meeting. I call these the “anti-expert” questions:
What’s not on the agenda that we haven’t thought about?
What’s not on the agenda that should be?
Practice curiosity during Interviews/Promotion process: If you value curiosity as a team value, your people should reflect it. Deb recommends asking questions during interviews or a promotion process to challenge candidates to demonstrate forms of “curiosity-in-action,” such as:.
Name a time when you solved a problem by learning some new?
Name a time when someone changed your mind?
Practice Self-Reflection: Deb’s book includes a companion “Curiosity Quiz” self-assessment to help readers gauge their own capacity for curiosity at work. This is where you experience the value of Deb’s research. The quiz is free and breaks curiosity as a concept into four measurable behaviors in the workplace, including:
In the end, I think curious managers don’t fall into the “expert trap.” Think of yourself as a manager and what your team would say about your capacity for curiosity. Wondering if you’re an “expert” or a “curious” manager? Try Deb’s free quiz:
Don’t Forget: “Career as a Story” Webinar on Oct. 23 at 10 am PST
I’m teaming up with my friend and master storyteller Patti Sanchez (co-author of Illuminate) to launch what we’re calling the Career Story Builder– an AI-powered tool that helps anyone tell a compelling story about themself.
The tool is based on Patti’s fabulous three-act framework for telling strategic stories, and we’ve combined it with my best practices for telling career stories. Right now we’re training a bot to produce winning LinkedIn summaries and other ways to communicate a professional story.
Patti and I are on a mission to help people, and to that end, we’re officially launching the tool on Oct 23 at 10 a.m. PST, and I’d like to invite the readers of this newsletter to attend, learn and spread the word about our Career Story Builder. We’re hoping to start a movement and would love your support.
You can register here to our webinar and the launch of our tool:
In Summary: Principles of Managing in the Age of Uncertainty
I left Cisco to answer this question with research and evidence: What does the manager of the future look like? What are millennials and gen-z seeking in a manager? Which behaviors, tactics, skills or processes matter? What’s it going to take to attract and keep the best people over the next decade? In short, how to be a great manager.
Based on this research, the core philosophy of this newsletter is rooted in one idea: successful managers in this moment in time, for this generation of talent, need to be “career dot-connectors.” The next-gen doesn’t expect to spend their entire career on your team — that’s an idea boomers grew up with. A job on your team is like a chapter in a career story to the current generation. If you want the best people on your team, you have to connect the dots between roles on the team and the career opportunities of the people working on the team.
What is the“Age of Uncertainty”? If the industrial age was about taking predictable steps up the ladder, the age of uncertainty is about finding or discovering the path of a career without any predictable steps, without an obvious ladder — it’s why being a career dot-connector will differentiate you as a manager.
How to be a Great Manager in the Age of Uncertainty: Be a Career Dot Connector is available on Amazon.
What kind of manager are you? Take my free self-assessment and learn about yourself.